pm' 


HISPANIC 

Notes  and   Monographs 

ESSAYS,  STUDIES,  AND  BRIEF 
BIOGRAPHIES  ISSUED  BY  THE 
HISPANIC     SOCIETY     OF     AMERICA 

PENINSULAR  SERIES 


(iarcilaso  dc  la  Vega  and  his  son  of  the  same  namt 
San  Pt  dio  Marlir.  Toledo 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


A  Critical  Study  of  His 
Life  and  Works 


HAYWARD  KENISTON 


NEW  YORK 

HISPANIC  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

1922 


COFVKUIHT,    1922  >. 

BY 

THE   HISPANIC  SOCIETY   OF  AMERICA 


CORNELL  Publications  Printing  Co. 
Ithaca,   N.  Y. 


PREFACE 

V 

PREFACE 

The  present  study  is  the  outgrowth  of 
investigations  begun  in  1909  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  doctoral  dissertation  for  Harvard 
University.  Since  that  thesis  was  accepted 
in  191 1,  several  years  of  study  in  Europe 
and  further  investigations  in  this  country 
have  so  developed  the  theme  that  the  pre- 
sent volume,  and  a  second  volume,  contain- 
ing a  critical  text  and  bibliography  of  the 
poet's  works  which  is  to  appear  shortly, 
have  little  resemblance  to  the  original 
essay. 

In  this  volume  I  have  attempted  first  to 
present  the  actual  facts  concerning  the 
poet's  life.  Disregarding  the  numerous  ac- 
counts which  have  no  solid  basis  of  informa- 
tion, I  have  endeavored  to  reconstruct  the 
story  of  the  man  as  he  appears  in  original 
documents.  But  I  have  not  contented  my- 
self with  recording  specific  references  to 
him.    We  could  form  but  a  scanty  picture 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

48731) 


vi 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

from  the  scattered  comments  of  his  con- 
temporaries or  the  dry  formulae  of  notarial 
documents.  Fortunately,  however,  we 
know  something  of  his  whereabouts  during 
most  of  his  life  and  it  has  been  my  aim  to 
trace  his  career  by  a  study  of  other  docu- 
ments of  the  time  and  of  such  of  his  poems 
as  cast  light  on  the  events  of  his  life,  to 
visualize  him  as  a  person. 

In  the  study  of  his  works,  I  have  tried  to 
record  the  results  of  my  own  investigations 
and  my  own  impressions,  without  neglect- 
ing the  vast  body  of  criticism  which  already 
exists.  It  is  true  that  I  have  not  included 
all  the  thousands  of  mentions  of  Garcilaso 
which  I  have  noted  down ;  they  would  have 
added  to  the  bulk  of  the  work  rather  than 
to  its  interest,  for  most  of  the  praise  of  his 
verse  is  conventional.  It  has  been  my  hope, 
not  merely  to  summarize  our  present 
knowledge  of  his  work  but  also  to  give  an 
honest  and  sympathetic  estimate  of  its 
value. 

In  the  Appendices  will  be  found  two 
documents  of  interest:    the  hitherto   un- 

HISPANIC    NOTES       ' 

PREFACE 

vii 

published  "Prueba  de  nobleza"  of  Garcilaso 
and  the  letter  of  Scipione  Capece,  from  the 
rare  edition  of  Donatus's  Commentary  on 
the  Aenead,  which  has  not  before  been  re- 
published.    The  List  of  Works  consulted 
contains  only  those  which  are  frequently 
referred  to  in  the  Notes. 

I  cannot  fail  to  acknowledge  here  my  in- 
debtedness to  those  who  have  preceded  me 
in  the  study  of  Garcilaso;   it  is  far  greater 
than  the   Notes   can  possibly   reveal.      I 
would  also  express  my  gratitude  to  the 
many  friends  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  America 
who  have  so  generously  aided  me  with  their 
counsel. 

H.  K. 

- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

CONTENTS 


Life 

PAGE 

Chapter  I. 

Family  Heritage    . 

I 

Chapter  II. 

School  Days     .      . 

i8 

Chapter  III. 

In  the  King's  Service 

42 

Chapter  IV. 

An  lU  Fated  Expe- 

dition 

47 

Chapter  V. 

Knighthood  and 

Marriage 

56 

Chapter  VI. 

A  Courtier  of  the 

Emperor 

69 

Chapter  VII. 

Isabel  Freire. 

77 

Chapter  VIII. 

The  Journey  to  Italy 

85 

Chapter  IX. 

A  Mission  to  France 

97 

Chapter  X. 

Imperial    Disfavor 

103 

Chapter  XI. 

Exile  in  Naples 

117 

Chapter  XII. 

The  Expedition  to 

Timis 

129 

Chapter  XIII. 

The  Last  Campaign 

142 

Chapter  XIV. 

The  Tower  of 

Le  Muy 

153 

Chapter  XV. 

The  Chapel  of  the 

Rosary    = 

160 

Chapter  XVI. 

PersonaKty       .      . 

171 

IX 


X                   CONTENTS 

Works 

Chapter  I. 

Spanish  Verses 

179 

Chapter  II. 

The  Letters      .      . 

265 

Chapter  III. 

The  Latin  Poems 

270 

Chapter  IV. 

Versification 

277 

Chapter  \\ 

Orthography.  \"ocab 

- 

ulary,  Grammar 

347 

Chapter  VI. 

The  Fort  una  of  Gar- 

cilaso 

363 

Appendix  A. 

Prueba  de  Nobleza 

435 

Appendix  B. 

Letter  of.Scipione 

Capece     . 

438 

List  of  Works  Consulted 

439 

Notes 

455 

LIFE 


:  :  *:  «*; 


Bii  Ihplacc  of  (jarcilaso 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


CHAPTER  I 

FAMILY  HERITAGE 

On  the  northwestern  slope  of  the  sheer 
hill  upon  which  Toledo  is  perched,  a  nar- 
row passage,  half  staircase,  half  alley, 
once  called  the  Cuesta  de  Garcilaso  de  la 
Vega  but  now  known  as  the  Cuesta  de 
Santo  Domingo  el  Antiguo,  drops  down 
from  the  Plazuela  de  Padilla  toward  the 
Tagus.  For  the  most,  the  houses  which 
keep  eternal  shadow  on  the  ill-paved  way 
are  prim,  conventual,  but  a  few  rods 
down  the  slope  another  alley,  the  Cobertizo 
de  Santo  Domingo  el  Antiguo,  as  steep 
and  dirty  as  the  first,  throws  into  relief 
an  old,  ruined  building  upon  the  corner. 
It  is  a  grim,  massive  structure,  built  in  the 
style  that  Andrea  Navagero,  ambassador 
of  Venice  at  the  court  of  Charles  V,  re- 
marked to  be  typical  of  the  palaces  of  the 
Toledan  nobihty,  four-square  and  un- 
adorned, of  rough  stone  with  terra-cotta 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


2 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

courses,    with    small,     square     windows. ^ 
Above  the  broad  doorway  a  white   sign 
shows  its  present  use:    ''Ignacio  Carrido, 
Cerrajeria",  and  within  beneath  a  canvas 
awning,  for  the  roof  and  floors  are  gone, 
the   locksmith   works  in   lonesome   state. 
From  the  threshhold  there  is  a  glimpse, 
over  the  jagged  line  of  roof -tiles,  of  the 
green  Vega  in  the  distance,  where 

con  agradable  mansedumbre 
el  Tajo  va  siguiendo  su  Jornada, 
3^  regando  los  campos  y  arboledas 
con  artificio  de  las  altas  ruedas. 

Set  in  the  wall  of  the  house  is  a  white 
marble  tablet  which  bears  this  inscription : 
"Aqui  estuvo  la  casa  solariega  donde 

NACIO  EN  1503  ELINSIGNE  VATE  —  PRINCIPE 
DE  LOS    POETAS   LIRICOS    CASTELLANOS  —  Y 
VARON  ESFORZADO  EN  EMPRESAS  MILITARES 
—  GARCI-LASSO  DE  LA  VEGA.       LA  IMPERIAL 
CIUDAD    DEDICA   ESTE   HUMILDE    RECUERDO 
A     LA    PERDURABLE     MEMORIA    DE   TAN    ES- 
CLARECIDO  HIJO.       1 7  DE  AGOSTO  DE  190O." 

In  this  seignorial  house,  then,  was  born 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

3 

the  poet  and  soldier  of  Toledo,  Garcilaso 
de  la  Vega.     But  the  date  of  his  birth  is 
by  no  means  certain.     Fernandez  de  Na- 
varrete  in  his  Life  of  Garcilaso  assigned 
it  to  the  year  1503^  and  since  the  publi- 
cation of  his  work  (1850),  that  date  has 
been  generally  accepted.     He  gives  how- 
ever no  authority  for  his  statement  and 
inasmuch  as  no  parochial  records  for  the 
period    exist,    we    must    seek    for    other 
evidences.    The  first  of  the  biographers  of 
Garcilaso,  Fernando  de  Herrera,  was  not 
a  contemporary  of  the  poet,  but  he  did 
know  personally  his  son-in-law,  Antonio 
Puertocarrero,  and  his  statements  are  there- 
fore deserving  of  credit.     In  closing  his 
account  of  the  death  of  Garcilaso  in  1536 
he  states  that  he  died  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
four,2  which  would  place  his  birth  late  in 
1 501  or  in  1502.     He  also  tells  us  that  he 
was  married  "soon  after  he  was  twenty- 
four  or  a  little  older"  {"entrando  en  edad 
de  24  aiios  0  poco  mas^').^     But  we  now 
know  that  he  was  married  in  1525,''  which 
would  establish   1501   as  the  year  of  his 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

4 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

birth.      The    only   other   evidence   which 
bears  upon  the  point  is  the  statement  of 
Pero  Abrera,  the  only  witness  called  to 
testify  to  Garcilaso's  nobility  during  the 
formal    examination,    which    always    pre- 
ceded admission  to  the  Order  of  Santiago, 
on    September    ii,    1523,    that    he    was 
"about  twenty -five  years  old"   ("sera  de 
hedad  de  veynte  e  cinco  anos,  poco  mas  0 
menos'').^     Unfortunately  this  statement, 
which  would  place  his  birth  in  1498,  can- 
not be  accepted  as  necessarily  accurate. 
For  the  Spaniard  of  the  early  sixteenth 
century  often  had  as  hazy  an  idea  of  his 
age  as  the  negro  of  slavery  days,  and  even 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Alba,  who  was  cer- 
tainly born  in  1507  or  1508,  glibly  testified 
in    1543    that   he    "might   be   forty -three 
years  old, "2  and  Garcilaso's  wife,   Elena 
de  Zufiiga,  revealed  an  uncertainty  as  to 
the  age  of  her  children,  less  understand- 
able in  a  mother  than  in  a  father.^    The 
only  value  of  Abrera's  deposition  is  there- 
fore that  it  makes  it  probable  that  Gar- 
cilaso  was  born  before,  rather  than  after, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

5 

1503.    We  shall  not  be  far  from  the  truth, 
if   we    say   that    Garcilaso   was   born   in 
1501.1 

Concerning  his  forbears   we   are   fortu- 
nately better  informed  and  a  brief  glance 
at   the -long   line   of  illustrious   ancestors 
whose  blood  was  in  his  veins  is  interesting, 
as  rendering  intelligible  certain  character- 
istics strikingly  evidenced   in   him.^    The 
original  seat  of  the  family  de  la  Vega  was 
at  Torrelavega  in  the  Asturias,  in  a  plain 
on  the  banks  of  the  little  river   Besaya 
close  to  the  sea.    The  first  member  of  the 
family  of  whom  we  have  certain  know- 
ledge is  the  Garcias  Lasso,  or  Garci-Laso 
de   la  Vega,  mentioned  by  Fernandez  de 
Oviedo    in    his    manuscript     Batallas     y 
quincuagenas    as  Merino  Mayor  de   Cas- 
tilla  in  the  reign  of  Fernando  IV. »    In  the 
struggle  for  the  regency  of  Castile  during 
the   minority   of   Alfonso   XI   which   fol- 
lowed the  death  of  Fernando  IV,  Garcilaso 
supported  the  party  of  the  Infante  Don 
Pedro  and  on  the  latter's  death  at  Granada 
in  13 1 9,  he  assumed  the  guardianship  of 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

1 

6 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

his  posthumous  daughter  and  his  place  in 
the  control  of  the  kingdom.    When  Alfonso 
XI  was  given  the  reins  of  government  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  in  1325,  Garcilaso  was 
all-powerful  among  his  advisors  and  was 
named  Chancellor  of  the  realm.     But  the 
ruthlessness  with  which  he  had  suppressed 
his  enemies  bore  its  fruit;    he  was  mur- 
dered on  March  2,  1328  while  at  mass  in 
the   convent   of   San   Francisco  in   Soria, 
whither   he  had   gone   to   negociate   with 
certain  rebels  against  the  king.     His  heir, 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega/  was  still  a  lad  at 
the   time   of   his   father's   death,   but   he 
soon  distinguished  himself  in  the  service 
of  the  king  and  during  the  siege  of  Gibral- 
tar in  1334  he  bore  a  brave  part  in  the 
rescue   of  the   Spanish   knights  who  had 
been  cut  off  on  La  Isla.    With  his  brother, 
Gonzalo   Ruiz   de   la   Vega,   he   was   the 
first  to  cross  the  Salado  on  that  memor- 
able  day    (October   30,    1340)    when   the 
forces   of   Castile   and   Portugal   defeated 
the   Moors.      Named   Adelantado   Mayor 
de  Castilla,  Garcilaso  was  one  of  the  first 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

7 

of  the  nobles  to  feel  the  heavy  hand  of 
Pedro  el  Cruel  after  his  accession  to  the 
throne   in    1350.      He    was   murdered   in 
cowardly  fashion  in  the  palace  in  Burgos 
in   13  5 1   and  his  body  thrown  from  the 
window  to   the   square  below.     His  son, 
once  more  named  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega, 
was  rescued  at  the  time  by  some  of  the 
servants  and  carried  off  to  his  estates  in 
Asturias.     From  his  marriage  with  Dona 
Mencia  Cisneros,^  he  had  but  one  child, 
a  daughter,  Dona  Leonor  de  la  Vega. 

The  male  line  of  the  family  thus  became 
extinct,    but    Dona    Leonor    became    the 
second  wife  of  Diego  Hurtado  de  Mendoza, 
Almirante    under    Enrique    HI,  and   the 
house  of  La  Vega  was  thereby  incorporated 
with   that    of    Mendoza,    which    assumed 
the  arms  of  the  family  of  La  Vega  with 
their   devise    ''Ave    Maria   gratia   plena." 
Don  Diego  and  Dofia  Leonor  had  three 
children.      The    eldest    and    heir    to    the 
estates    was    the    celebrated    Marquis    of 
Santillana,  Inigo  Lopez  de  Mendoza,  the 
chief  literary  figure  of  the  fifteenth  centu- 

i 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

8 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

ry;   the  youngest  was  Dona  Elvira  Laso 
de    la    Vega.       This    daughter    married 
Gomez   Suarez  de  Figueroa,  chatelain  of 
Badajoz.      Of   their    children,    the    eldest 
was    Lorenzo    Suarez    de    Figueroa,    first 
Count    of    Feria;     the    second    was    Pero 
Suarez  de  Figueroa;    the  third  was  Gar- 
cilaso  de  la  Vega.     Pero  Suarez  married 
Dofia  Blanca  Sotomayor^  and  their  second 
son  was    given    the    name    of   Garcilaso 
de   la  Vega,    according    to    the    common 
Spanish  custom  of  choosing  a  name  from 
the  maternal  line  for  the  younger  sons. 

This  Garcilaso,  the  father  of  the  poet, 
was  bom  in  Badajoz.^     He  early  entered 
the  service  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  and 
as  their  maestresala  fought  in  the  War  of 
the    Succession   against   King   Alfonso   of 
Portugal.     For  this  he  was  rewarded  in 
1479  with  the  grant  of  all  the  tolls  paid 
by  the   cattlemen  on  the  sheep  as  they 
passed  through  Badajoz  on  their  annual 
migration  to  the  warm  pastures  of  Ex- 
tremadura.      Two    years    later,    he    was 
named  a  contino,  or  member  of  the  per- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

9 

sonal  guard  of  the  King  and  Queen.    Dur- 
ing the  War  of  Granada  he  bore  a  valiant 
part  and  early  in  the  siege  of  Velezmalaga 
(April.  1487)  with  other  gentlemen  of  the 
Court  helped  to   save   King   Ferdinand's 
life.     Although  wounded  in  the   capture 
of  the  suburbs  of  the  town,  he  was  able 
to  serv^e  in  the  siege  of  Malaga  during  the 
summer,  where  he  acted  as  a  captain.    On 
the  capture  of  the  town  of  Vera  in  the 
following  year   (June   10),   Garcilaso  was 
made  alcaide,  or  chatelain,  but  the  forays 
of  the  Moorish  chief.  El  Zagal.  soon  made 
it  necessary  for  the  sovereigns  to  dispatch 
him  with   reinforcements  to   protect   the 
frontier.    In  the  spring  of  1489  Ferdinand 
took  the  field  in  force  to  besiege  the  town 
of  Baza  and  Garcilaso  is  named  as  the 
captain  of  forty  lances  in  the  great  throng 
of  Spanish  nobles  who  fought  under  the 
banner  of  the  king.     Baza  finally  capitu- 
lated on  December  4  and  the   King   and 
Queen,  having  accepted  the  surrender  of 
Almeria.  started  for  that  city  three  days 
later.     They  were  met  outside  the  town 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

10 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

by  El  Zagal,  who  came  to  offer  them  his 
possessions.    Having  received  the  Moorish 
prince  with  courtesy,  they  escorted  him  to 
the  royal  tent  and  served  him  a  sumptu- 
ous repast.     Among   the    Spanish   nobles 
who    served    at    this    meal,    Garcilaso    is 
named  as  the  cupbearer  to  El  Zagal. 

Dtiring  the  next  four  years  there  is  no 
mention  of  Garcilaso  in  the  chronicles  of 
the   times.      But    curiously   enough   it   is 
precisely  to   these   years  that   belongs   a 
tradition    concerning    him    which    gained 
wide  currency  in  the  following  centuries. 
Briefly,   the   legend   relates   how   Hernan 
Perez  del   Pulgar,    "El   de   las  hazanas," 
stole  into  Granada  one  night  during  the 
siege  and  with  his  dagger  fastened  upon 
the  door  of  the  mosque  a  parchment  bear- 
ing the  words,  "Ave  Maria  gratia  plena." 
On  the  discovery  of  this  insult  a  Moorish 
knight,  Tarfe,  tore  down  the  parchment, 
tied  it  to  his  horse's  tail,  and  riding  forth 
to  the  Spanish  camp  of  Santa  Fe,  chal- 
lenged   the    Christians    to    send    forth    a 
champion,  or  several  of  them,  to  defend 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

11 

the  honor  of  their  Lady.    Garcilaso  begged 
the   king's   permission   to   undertake   the 
exploit  but  was  denied  the  privilege  be- 
cause of  his  youth.    In  spite  of  this  refusal 
he  slipped  out  of  the  camp,  attacked  and 
killed  the  arrogant  Moor  and  presently,  to 
the  surprise  of  the  Court,   rode  proudly 
into   Santa  Fe,  bearing  Tarfe's  dripping 
head    upon    his    lance    and    wearing    the 
parchment  upon  his  breast.     As  a  reward 
he  was  granted  the  right  to  assume  the 
words  upon  the  parchment-  as  his  devise 
and  also  the  title  of  ''de  la  Vega," 

porque  en  la  Vega  hiciera 
campo  con  aquel  pagano.^ 

The  first  version  of  this  story  to  appear 
in  print  is  to  be  found  in  the  Romancero 
historiado  of  Lucas  Rodriguez  (1579)  and 
further    variants    soon    followed    in    the 
Romancero   y   tragedias   of    Gabriel    Lobo 
Laso  de  la  Vega  (1587),  the   His  tor  ia  de 
los  vandos  de  los  Zegries  y  Ahencerrages  of 
Gines    Perez    de    Hita    (1595)    and    the 
Romancero  general  (1600).     But  the  story 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

12 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

must  have  been  current  before  1579,  for 
it  is  the  theme  of  one  of  the  earliest  of 
Lope    de    Vega's    plays,     Los    hechos    de 
Garcilaso  de  la   Vega  y  Moro   Tarfe,^  the 
only  play  of  his  which  has  survived  in 
four  acts,  and  Lope  himself  declares  that 
he  wrote  his  first  play  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
that  is,  in  1574.     In  fact  it  seems  probable 
that  the  tradition  goes  back  to  the  fifteenth 
century  to  another  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega, 
the  third  son  of  Gomez  Suarez  de  Figueroa^ 
and  uncle  of  the  contino  of  the  Catholic 
Monarchs,  who  was  Comendador  of   Mon- 
tizon  under  Enrique  IV.     For  Alonso  de 
Palencia   in   his    Cronica   de    Enrique  IV^ 
tells    how    this    Garcilaso,    challenged    to 
single  combat  by  a  Moor  in  the  Vega  of 
Malaga  (1456),  slew  him  and  carried  off 
his  horse  and  other  trophies  and  how,  two 
years  later,  he  was  killed  by  a  poisoned 
arrow   near    Baza,    an   event   which    was 
lamented  by  Gomez  Manrique  in  his  poem, 
La  defunzion  del  noble  cavallero   G.^  Laso 
de  la    VegaA     It  is  not  strange  that  the 
exploits  of  this  knight  were  confused  with 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

^ 


LIFE     AND     WORKS 

13 

those  of  his  nephew,  who,  as  we  shall  see, 
later  gained  distinction  under  Ferdinand 
and    Isabella,    nor    is    it    surprising    that 
genealogists  of  the  sixteenth  century  at- 
tributed this  exploit  to  the  Garcilaso  who 
fought  at  the  battle  of  the  Salado  in  1340 
and  thus  accounted  for  the  title  and  the 
arms  of  the  family  as  well  as  of  the  family 
of  the  Mendozas.i     It  is  one  of  the  nimi- 
erous  poetical  traditions  which  has  been 
transferred    to    another    member    of    the 
family  whose  distinction  attracted  to  him 
all  the  records  of  deeds  of  valor  in  the 
family,  and  which  at  the  same  time  seeks 
to  explain  the  origin  of  his  titles  and  arms. 
Its  chief  historical  interest  is  that  it  re- 
veals that  its  hero  was  deemed  capable  of 
performing  the  exploit  which  it  relates. 

To  return  to  the  life  of  Garcilaso,  the 
courtier   of   Ferdinand    and    Isabella,    we 
find   him   named   as   ambassador   to   the 
Pope,  Alexander   VI,  on    March  i,   1494. 
During  the  next  five  years  he  was  a  vigour- 
ous,    if    undiplomatic,    representative    of 
Spain  at  Rome  during  the  troublous  times 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

14 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

of  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII 
of   France.     His   affection  for   arms  had 
not  diminished,  however,  and  in  March, 
1497   he  bore  a  leading  part  under  the 
Grand  Captain,  Gonzalo  de  Cordoba,  in 
the  capture  of  Ostia.     His  plain  speech  to 
Alexander  VI  finally  made  him  unpopular 
with   that  pontiff  and  he  left  Rome  on 
July   I,   1499,  returning  to  Spain  in  the 
company  of  Queen  Juana  of  Naples,  sister 
of  Ferdinand  V.^     At  the  Court  he  soon 
found  himself  high  in  the  councils  of  the 
King  and  Queen  and  honors  and  rewards 
were  showered  upon  him.     In  his  absence 
he  had  been  appointed  governor  of  Jerez 
de   la   Frontera   and   he   now  received   a 
similar  office  at  Vera  and  Gibraltar. ^     In 
1502  he  was  made  a  member  ot  the  Privy 
Council  and  upon  the  death  of  Gutierre 
de  Cardenas  on  January  21,  1503  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  stead  as  Comendador  Mayor 
de  Leon.     At  the  Cortes  held  in  Toro  in 
January,  two  years  later,  Garcilaso  acted 
as    its    president.      The    beloved    Queen 
Isabella  had  died  in  the  preceding  year 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

15 

and  when  her  daughter   Juana  with  the 
consort,    Philip   I,   landed  at  Corunna  on 
April  28,  1506,  the  great  majority  of  the 
Castilian  nobles  hastened  to  pay  to  them 
the  tribute  of  their  loyalty.     When  Ferd- 
inand V  met  Philip  near  Puebla  de  Sene- 
bria  on  Jime  20,  Garcilaso  was  among  the 
knights   of    Castile   in   the    latter 's   suite 
who  appeared  upon  the  field  with  a  suit 
of  armor  beneath  his  cloak  and  it  is  re- 
lated that  as  Ferdinand  greeted  him  and 
slapped  his  shoulder,  he  said,  Hke  Caesar 
to  Brutus,   in  a  voice  filled  with  disap- 
pointment, "You,  too,  Garcia?       {eY  tu, 
Garcia,  tambien?)''' 

For  his  devotion  to  Philip  he  was  re- 
warded during  the  simimer  by  an  appoint- 
ment as  tutor  and  chief  chamberlain  to 
the    Infante    Fernando,    second    son    of 
Philip  and   Juana  and  later  king  of  Bo- 
hemia and  emperor  of  Germany,  who  was 
then  three  years-  old.     Phihp's  death  on 
September  25th  of  the  same  year  deprived 
him  of  his  protector  and  when  Ferdinand 
returned  as  regent  he  found  that  his  de- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

16 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

sertion  of  his  cause  had  cost  him  his 
favor.  The  latter  years  of  his  Hfe  were 
uneventful;  he  died  in  the  monastery  of 
San  Juan  at  Burgos,  on  September  8, 
1512.1 

Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  had  married  Dona 
Sancha  de  Guzman,  whose  lineage  was  as 
illustrious  as  his  own,  for  the  Guzmanes 
traced  their  ancestry  to  the  earliest  days 
of  the  County  of  Castile  and  boasted 
three  queens  from  their  stock. 2  Her 
grandfather  was  Fernan  Perez  de  Guzman, 
"a  soldier  and  a  man  of  letters  belonging 
to  the  high  aristocracy  of  the  country,  and 
occupied  in  its  affairs,"  famous  as  the 
author  of  the  Generaciones  y  semhlanzas. 
Through  the  death  of  her  brother,  Pedro 
Suarez  de  Guzman,  she  had  inherited  the 
estates  of  Batres  and  in  1502  she  and  her 
husband  acquired  the  estate  of  Cuerva. 
Later  the  estates  of  Arcos,  estabUshed  by 
Garcilaso's  parents,  were  inherited  and 
added  to  the  patrimony. » 

Such  are  the  antecedents  of  the  man 
whose   life   we   would   study.      They   are 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  17 


strong  men,  brave  fighters  for  their  kings, 
accomplished  courtiers,  men  who  have 
risen  and  who  have  fallen  with  the  intri- 
cacy of  royal  whim,  and  yet  men  of  letters, 
who  have  cherished  a  regard  for  the 
masters  of  the  past  and  have  striven  to 
emulate  their  example.  Their  spirit  is 
clearly  reflected  in  the  soldier  and  poet  of 
Charles  V. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


18 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

CHAPTER  II 

SCHOOL  DAYS 

Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  bom  as  we  have 
seen  in  1501  or  1502,  was  the  second  of 
seven  children. ^     The  heir  to  the  family 
estates,  Pedro  Laso  de  la  Vega,  who  was 
destined  to  become  notorious   as  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Jimta  of  the  Comunidad 
in  Toledo  in  1520  and  15  21,  was  apparently- 
much  older  than  he,  if  we  may  judge  by 
the  position  of  leadership  which  he  had 
won    by    1520,    and    was    probably    bom 
before  1495.     His  youngest  brother,  Fer- 
nando de  Guzman,  was  killed  during  the 
siege  of  Naples  by  Lautrec  in  1527,  at  the 
age  of  twenty  ;2  the  older  of  his  two  sisters, 
Dofia   Leonor  de  la  Vega,   married   Luis 
Fernandez  Puertocarrero,  Count  of  Palma. 
Concerning  the  boyhood  of  Garcilaso  the 
only  information  which  we  possess  is  the 
statement  of  Herrera  that  "he  was  brought 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

19 

up  in  Toledo  until  he  was  old  enough  to 
serve  the  Emperor  and  follow  his  Court. "^ 
Navarrete    doubts    the    accuracy    of    this 
statement,  without  alleging  any  reasons, 
and  is  inclined  to  the  belief  that  he  was 
educated  at  the  Court,  perhaps  by  Peter 
Martyr, 2    There  seems  to  be  no  valid  rea- 
son for  questioning  the  authority  of  Her- 
rera,   particularly  because   Garcilaso   was 
a  younger  son  of  his  house.     What  was 
the  sort  of  education  which  he  received  in 
Toledo  ?  What,  in  general,  was  the  educa- 
tion of  the  youth  of  the  Spanish  nobility 
in  the  first  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  ? 
There  is  no  circimistantial  account  of  edu- 
cational methods  for  precisely  these  years, 
but  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  matter 
by  studying  the  periods  which  preceded 
and  which  followed  them. 

Queen  Isabella  had  manifested  a  most 
lively   interest   in   the    education    of   her 
children  and  especially  in  that  of  the  heir 
to  the  throne,  Don   Juan.     For  him  she 
devised  an  elaborate  system  of  training  of 
which  Fernandez  de  Oviedo  has  left  us  a 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

20 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

detailed  account  in  his  Lihro  de  la  Cdmara 
Real  del  Prinqipe  Don  Juan.^    The  Queen 
instituted  for  her  son's  education  a  sort 
of    miniature    college,    consisting    of    five 
masters,   chosen  from  the  high  nobility, 
and  five  students,   sons  of  the  principal 
families  of  the  realm.     His  instruction  in 
Latin  and  the  humanities  was  intrusted 
to  Fray  Diego  de  Deza  and  in  the  library 
of  Isabella  are  noted  a  number  of  copy- 
books which  the  young  prince  had  used 
for  his  compositions  in  Latin.    Besides  his 
formal  studies  he  was  taught  to  fence  with 
the  sword,  to  hunt,  and  above  all,  to  sing 
and   to   play   upon   various   instruments, 
organ,  the  clavichord,  the  viola,  and  the 
guitar.    That  these  remained  the  principal 
fields  of  instruction  in  the  following  reigns 
is  clear  from  the  Relazione  of  the  Venetian 
Ambassador  at  the  Court  of  Charles  V, 
Marino  Cavalli,  who  briefly  describes  the 
training    of    the    pages    at    the    Imperial 
court,  sons  of  counts  and  nobles.     "They 
have  their  masters,"  he  says,   *'to  teach 
them  to  dance,  to  fence,  to  ride  and  wheel 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

21 

on  horseback,  and  a   little   book-learning 
{un  poco   di   letter e).''  ^ 

If  these  were  the  arts  which  kings  felt 
worth    inculcating    in    their    princes    and 
courtiers,  we  may  be  sure  that  -all  of  the 
nobility  trained  their  sons  in  a  similar  fash- 
ion to  fit  them  for  service  one  day  at  the 
Court.    There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Gar- 
cilaso  too  was  trained  in  these  accomplish- 
ments of  the  perfect  gentleman.    The  only 
contemporary    reference    to    his    personal 
qualities,  that  of  Fernandez  de  Oviedo,  was 
that  he  was  "an  excellent  player  on  the 
harp   and   a   thorough   gentleman    {gentil 
musico  de  harpa  e  buen  cavalier o),''  and  to 
give  weight  to  his  opinion  Oviedo  adds, 
"and  I  saw  him  play  several  times."-    Her- 
rera  as  well  mentions  his  accomplishments 
saying,  "He  was  very  skilled  in  music,  in 
the  viola  and  the  harp,  and  of  great  exper- 
ience in  the  training  of  a  soldier  {Fue  mui 
diestro  en  la  musica,  i  en  la  vihuela  i  arpa 
i  exercitadissimo  en  la  disciplina  militar)."^ 
But  Garcilaso  was  more  than  a  courtly 
gentleman;    he  was  also  a  scholar  and  in 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

22 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

his  youth  he  must  have  received  far  more 
than  the  smattering  of  letters  provided  for 
Prince   Juan  or  the  pages  of  Charles  V. 
Let  us  see  what  this  instruction  must  have 
been. 

The  wave  of  humanistic  studies  which 
swept  Italy  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century  was  long  in  reaching  Spain. ^    An- 
tonio de   Lebrija,   the  father  of   Spanish 
himianism,   returned  from   Italy  in    1473 
to  teach  Latin  in  the  University  of  Seville ; 
in    1484   Lucio    Marineo    Siculo   came   to 
Salamanca  from  Sicily  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Almirante,  Fadrique  Enriquez;  and 
three  years  later  the  Count  of  Tendilla,  on 
his   return   from   his   embassy   in   Rome, 
brought  with  him  Peter  Martyr    of    An- 
ghiera.    Although  Spain  was  still  engrossed 
in  its  struggle  to  drive  out  the  Moors,  the 
Queen's  interest  in  the  promotion  of  learn- 
ing was  already  beginning  to  have  its  effect. 
In  a  letter  to  the  Count  of  Tendilla  Peter 
Martyr  has  left  a  humorous  description 
of  his  first  lecture  on    Juvenal  at   Sala- 
manca  in    September,    1488.2      It   was   a 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS           23 

1 

Tuesday,  the  mid-week  holiday,  and  as  a 
result  the  whole  University  thronged  to 
the  lecture-hall.     When  Peter  Martyr  ar- 
rived, the  throng  was  so  dense  that  it  was 
impossible    for   the   beadles,    in    spite    of 
shouts,   threats,   even   of   vigorous  blows 
with  lances  and  staffs,  to  open  a  passage- 
way for  the  professor.    And  so  it  was  neces- 
sary to  lift  him  up  and  pass  him  over  the 
heads  of  the  multitude  to  the  platform. 
Hats  innumerable  were  lost,   and  cloaks 
torn  in  the  press.    One  of  the  beadles  lost 
his  crimson  robe  and  later  tried  to  make 
Martyr  responsible  for    damages.     When 
the  lecttire  was  finished  he  was  escorted 
to  his   lodgings  like   an   Olympic   victor. 
With  all  its  playful  exaggeration  the  letter 
is  a  docimient  of  the  greatest  significance, 
for  it  reveals  that  already  learning  was 
held  in  respect  and  was  sought  for  with 
eagerness. 

No  sooner  was  Granada  captured  early 
in  1492  than  the  Queen  turned  her  atten- 
tion to  encouraging  even  more  the  grow- 
ing interest  in  classical  studies.     At  her 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

24 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

command  Peter  Martyr  opened  a  school 
at  the  Court  for  the  youths  of  the  nobility. 
"My  house  is  filled  all  day,"  he  says,  "with 
a  swarm  of  young  nobles.     Already  they 
are  being  gradually  reclaimed  from  those 
idle  pursuits,  to  which  they  have  been  ac- 
customed since  their  boyhood,  to  the  study 
of  letters.     Already  they  are  beginning  to 
learn  that  letters  are  not  a  hindrance  to 
the  profession  of  arms,  as  they  have  been 
led  to  believe  by  their  elders,  but  rather 
a  great  assistance.  "^     Some  of  his  pupils 
attended  his  classes  accompanied  by  their 
tutors,  with  whom  they  reviewed  the  day's 
lessons  in  the  evening  at  home.     So  great 
was  the  popularity  of  his  instruction  that 
it  was  necessary  a  few  years  later  to  sum- 
mon   Lucio    Marineo   from   his    chair    at 
Salamanca  to  assist  him  in  his  work. 2    With 
such   an   enthusiasm   current   it   was   not 
long   before   the   old    Castilian    prejudice 
against    learning   disappeared.      We   hear 
of  the  Marquis  of  Denia  learning  Latin  at 
the    age   of   sixty;     Pedro   Fernandez   de 
Velasco,   son  of  the  Count  of  Haro,  ex- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

1 

LIFE     AND      WORKS     I      25 


pounded  Pliny  and  Ovid  at  Salamanca, 
and  even  the  ladies  of  the  Court,  following 
the  leadership  of  the  Queen,  set  them- 
selves to  the  task  of  mastering  Latin  and 
even  Greek.  ^  As  Prescott  has  so  well  re- 
marked, "From  a  very  early  period,  a 
courtly  stamp  was  impressed  on  the  poetic 
literature  of  Spain.  A  similar  character 
was  now  imparted  to  its  erudition;  and 
men  of  the  most  illustrious  birth  seemed 
eager  to  lead  the  way  in  the  difficult  career 
of  science,  which  was  thrown  open  to  the 
nation.  "2 

At  Toledo  the  spread  of  the  new  move- 
ment had  been  evidenced  as  early  as  1485 
in  the  establishment  of  the  Colegio  de 
Santa  Catalina  by  Francisco  Alvarez, 
Maestrescuelas  of  the  Cathedral. ^  This 
school,  which  was  raised  to  the  status  of 
a  imiversity  in  1520,  numbered  among  its 
professors  during  the  early  years  of  the 
sixteenth  century  several  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished scholars  in  Spain.  If  Garcilaso 
received  his  early  training  in  Toledo  he 
must  have  sat  under  their  instruction  and 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


26 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

it  will  be  interesting  to  learn  some  of  their 
names.     As  early  as  1507,  Dionisio  Vaz- 
quez (147 9- 153 9)  was  professor  of  poetry 
and  oratory  at  Toledo,  where  he  remained 
until  his  appointment  as  the  first  inter- 
preter of  the  Bible  at  the  University  of 
Alcala  in  1535.^    The  most  famous  of  the 
teachers  of  Toledo  was  Alfonso   Cedillo, 
whom   Lucio   Marineo  styled   "a,  man  of 
unusual   learning,    to   whom   the    city   of 
Toledo,  whose  sons  he  so  earnestly  teaches, 
is    under   the   greatest   obligation    {virum 
litteris  insignem,  cui  quidem   Toletana   ci- 
vitas,  cuius  filios  diligentissime  docet,    plu- 
rimum  debet). "^    Cedillo  was  born  in  1484 
and  for  more  than  fifty  years  he  gave  out 
his  learning  to  his  pupils,   among  whom 
were  Alejo  Vane  j  as,  author  of  the  Primer  a 
parte  de  las  diferencias  de  libros  que  ay  en 
el  universo   (1540),  and  Alvar  Gomez  de 
Castro,  writer  of  Latin  verse  and  famous 
as  the  biographer  of  the  Cardinal  Ximenez 
de  Cisneros.3     The  last  of  the  teachers  of 
Toledo  of  whom  there  is  mention  is  Juan 
Ramirez,  another  of  the  masters  of  Alvar 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

27 

Gomez.    Nicolas  Antonio  tells  us  that  "he 
boarded  noble   youths   at   his  house   and 
instructed    them    in    good    manners    and 
sound   learning    {Alebat   domi   adolescentes 
ingenuos,   quos   df   morihus  &"  Uteris  probe 
instUuehat) .''^-^    The  high  reputation  which 
he  enjoyed  in  his  time  is  shown  by  his  elec- 
tion to  the  chair  of  rhetoric  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alcala  on  the  death  of  Antonio  de 
Lebrija  in  1522.2  Garcilaso  nowhere  men- 
tions his  early  masters,  but  his  own  writ- 
ings and  particularly  his  Latin  verses  reveal 
how  great  was  the  debt  he  owed  them. 

There  still  remains  the  more  important 
question  of  the  method  and  scope  of  ed- 
ucation in  Spain  in  the  first  decades  of  the 
sixteenth  century.     In  the  absence  of  any 
definite  studies  on  the  subject,  either  by 
contemporaries  or  by  modem  scholars,  we 
shall  have  to  draw  such  conclusions  as  we 
can  from  other  sources.     Throughout  the 
Middle  Ages,  in  Spain  as  in  the  rest  of 
Europe,  the  study  of  Latin  and  through 
it  of  the  Seven  Liberal  Arts  was  the  basis 
of  all  education. 3    In  spite  of  the  interest 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

28 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

in  the  sciences  revealed  at  the  Court  of 
Alfonso  the  Learned,  it  is  probable  that  in 
general   the    Spaniards   devoted   most   of 
their  efforts  to  the  arts  of  the  "Trivium," 
grammar,   rhetoric  and  logic;    Isidore  of 
Seville,    in    his     encyclopaedic     Etymolo- 
giarum  libri  xx,  devotes  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  his  discussion  of  the  liberal  arts 
to  the  "Trivium"  and  more  than  a  half  to 
grammar  alone. ^    It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  term  "grammar"  included  in  the 
mind  of  the  medieval  teacher  what  is  now 
termed  ''language  and  literature";  but  by 
the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages  the    purely 
literary  side  was  almost  forgotten  and  a 
scholastic  dialectic  on  the  niceties  of  usage 
formed  the  substance  of  his  instruction. 
He  was  content  to  study  letters  in  the 
small  doses  quoted  in  Priscian's  grammar 
or  in  the  metrical  Doctrinale  of  Alexander 
de  Villadei,  which  had  so  largely  replaced 
it. 

In  a  day  when  manuscripts  were  rare 
and  costly  it  was  natural  that  most  of  the 
instruction  should  be  oral.     The  master 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


29 


dictated  to  his  pupils  the  rules  of  grammar 
and  they  committed  these  rules  to  mem- 
ory. As  soon  as  the  elements  of  the  lan- 
guage were  thus  imparted,  he  began  the 
study  of  elementary  texts.  These  texts, 
chosen  rather  for  their  moral  than  for  their 
literary  value,  were  commonly  called  the 
"authors"  (auctores);  the  principal  works 
were  the  Disticha  Catonis,  the  collection 
of  fables  which  they  ascribed  to  Aesop,  the 
De  contemptu  miindi,  attributed  to  Saint 
Bernard,  the  Facetus,  also  known  as  the 
M  or  OS  us, — a  collection  of  moral  precepts, — 
a  similar  work  known  as  the  Floret  us,  and 
the  Ecloga  of  Theodulus.  Written  in 
verse,  these  works  were  readily  committed 
to  memory  and  thus  served  as  a  foimda- 
tion  for  further  teaching  in  the  forms  and 
syntax  of  Latin.  In  the  more  advanced 
stages  of  the  study  of  grammar,  the  same 
methods  were  applied  to  the  "Priscianus 
minor,  or  to  the  Dodrinale.  By  the  four- 
teenth century  the  classical  authors,  with 
the  exception  of  Virgil,  were  almost  wholly 
neglected.     Xor  was  the  study  of  rhetoric 


AND    MONOGRAPHS     i 


30 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

concerned  with   classical   usage;    rhetoric 
had  been  reduced  to  the  learning  of  nota- 
rial formulae  (dictamina)  and  to  the  com- 
position   of   epistles.      Logic,    which    had 
never   been   treated    in   its   metaphysical 
aspect,  had  been  limited  to  instruction  in 
the  subtleties  of  the  syllogism. 

Not  the  least  of  the  contributions  of  the 
Humanistic   movement   in    Italy   was   its 
reform  of  educational  methods. ^    To  Verge- 
rius    and    to    Vittorino    da     Feltre     and 
their   followers,   the   modern   world   owes 
not  merely  the  restoration    of    the    Clas- 
sics as  the  only  sound  basis  for  the  study 
of   grammar   and   rhetoric,   but   also   the 
establishment  of  the  principle  that  educa- 
tion aims  at  the  training  of  the  perfect 
citizen  and  is  essential  not  merely  for  the 
cleric  or  the  doctor,   but  also  for  every 
man.    Through  their  nimierous  treatises  on 
the  theory  and  practise  of  education  they 
spread  their  doctrines  during  the  fifteenth 
century  and  by  their  text -books,  such  as 
Perotti's  Grammatices  Rudimenta  and  the 
Elegantiae  of  Lorenzo  Valla  and  of  Agos- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

31 

tino  Dati,  they  provided  materials  for  a 
rational  study  of  grammar  and  rhetoric. 
To  what  extent  was  their  influence  felt  in 
Spain  ? 

When  Antonio  de  Lebrija  returned  to 
Spain  in  1473,  he  no  doubt  found  the  old 
regime    in    education    still   in    full    sway. 
Among  the  manuscripts  in  Queen  Isabella's 
library  are  listed  copies  of  the  Priscianus 
minor  and  the   Doctrinale}    But  the  new 
movement  was  not  long  in  making  itself 
felt.     One  of  the  first   books  printed  in 
Spain  was  the  grammar  of  Perotti  (1477)  ^ 
and   four   years   later  the   publication   of 
Lebrija's  own   Introductiones   Latinae,^  so 
often  reprinted  in  subsequent  years,  marks 
the  turning  point  in  the  study  of  Latin.    At 
about  the  same  time  appeared  the  first 
edition  of  Dati's  Elegantiae  to  be  issued 
from  a  Spanish  press  —  there  were  three 
subsequent  editions  before  the  end  of  the 
century  "*  —  and     in     1490     Alfonso     de 
Palencia  printed  his  Latin- Spanish   Voca- 
bulario,^  to  be  followed  in  1492  and  1495  by 
the  two  parts  of  Lebrija's  dictionary.®    It 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

32 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

is  significant  of  the  popularity  of  the  new- 
methods  that  all  of  these  works,  with  the 
exception  of  Perotti's  grammar,  were  num- 
bered in  the  library  of  Prince  Juan,  who 
died  in  1497.^     It  is  difficult  to  determine 
how  far  Lebrija  and  his  Italian  colleagues 
in  Spain,  like  Peter  Martyr  and  Marineo, 
attempted  to  carry  the  humanistic  system 
of  education.     Vergerius'  important  work, 
De  ingenuis  moribus,  was  early  known  in 
Spain  through  an  edition  printed  at  Bar- 
celona in  1 48 1  2  and  Lebrija's  little  essay, 
De  liberis  educandis,  reveals-  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  educational  theories 
of  Aristotle,   Plutarch  and  Quintilian,  to 
whom  the  Italian  educators  as  well    had 
turned  for  their  doctrine. ^    Unfortunately, 
Lebrija    limits    his   study  to  the   earliest 
years  of  the  child's  life  and  we  can  only 
divine  that  since  he  followed  his  masters 
in  his   precepts  for  these  years  he  must 
also  have  used  their  methods  in  the  later 
training. 

Even    though    Lebrija's    Introductiones 
had  revolutionized  the  teaching  of  formal 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  33 


grammar  in  Spain,  the  elementar>^  texts 
used  by  students  long  remained  those  that 
the  Middle  Ages  had  employed.  There 
is  a  long  list  of  editions  of  the  various 
"auctores,"  such  as  the  Disticha  Catonis, 
the  fables  of  Aesop,  and  the  Ecloga  of 
Theodolus,  printed  either  singly  or  in  a 
collection  known  as  Lihri  minores,  before 
the  end  of  the  century  ;i  Lebrija  himself 
edited  one  of  these  collections  which  was 
first  printed  in  1525  at  Alcala,  after  his 
death. 2  And  the  influence  of  the  old 
method  of  studying  rhetoric  can  be  seen 
in  the  pubUcation  of  such  works  as  the 
Ars  epistolandi  of  Franciscus  Xiger  (1494)  ' 
and  the  collection  of  Epistolae  ex  anti- 
quorum  annalihus  excerptae  made  by  Lucio 
Marineo.*  But  the  latter  work  is  also 
significant  because  it  shows  that  even  if 
the  Spanish  humanists  retained  the  art 
of  epistolary  composition  as  an  important 
part  of  their  study  of  rhetoric,  they  were 
now  tiuning  to  the  Classics  for  their  models 
instead  of  the  jejune  formulae  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages. 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


34 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

This  phase  of  the  revival  of  learning, 
the  study  of  the  Classics,  is  a  feature  of 
the  movement  in  Spain  as  it  was  in  Italy. 
We  have  seen  with  what  eagerness  the 
students  of   Salamanca  crowded  to  hear 
a  lecture   on    Juvenal.     But   listening  to 
lectures  does  not  make  scholars;    it  is  a 
vicarious  enjoyment  of  literature.     What 
we  are  interested  to  know  is  whether  the 
students  themselves  read  and  studied  the 
classical  authors.     For  such  a  study  the 
first    requisite    is    obviously    texts.       In 
Spain  there  was  no  such  activity  in  the 
printing  of  classical  authors  as  marked  the 
establishment  of  the  press  in  Italy.     But 
a  number  of  works  were  published  in  the 
Peninsula.      Of  the  prose  writers,  Sallust 
and  Caesar  were  printed  during  the  fif- 
teenth century,  1  the  former's  Opera  (Va- 
lencia, 1477)  being  the  second  dated  book 
to  be  printed  in  Spain.     The  Latin  poets 
were    more    widely    printed;     Martial    in 
1490,  the  Metamorphoses  of  Ovid  at  about 
the  same  time;    Virgil's  Buccolica  et  geor- 
gica    appeared    in    1498,    his    Aenead,    in 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

35 

1505;!    Persius  was  first  printed  at  Seville 
in  1503.2     But  this  exhausts  the  list.     As 
late  as  1524  Lorenzo  Balbo  of  Lille  in  the 
dedicatory  epistle  in  the  edition  of  the 
Argonautica  of  Valerius  Flaccus  explains 
that  he  and  his  colleagues  in  Latin  liter- 
ature  at   Alcala   had   arranged   to   teach 
Virgil,  Valerius  Flaccus,   Silvius  Italicus, 
Cicero's   Philippics   and   Quintus   Curtius 
during  the  following  winter  but  had  found 
that  aside  from  Virgil,  not  one  of  these 
authors   was    available. ^      This    condition 
was  somewhat  remedied,  however,  by  the 
publication    of    his    own    edition    of    the 
Argonautica,  and  by  editions  of  Cicero's 
Opuscula,  and  of  Quintus  Curtius.^    In  the 
same  year  there  also  appeared  the  first 
Spanish   edition    of    Terence.^      It   is,    of 
course,  possible  that  in  exceptional  cases 
students  were  able  to  secure  foreign  edi- 
tions or  even  manuscripts  of  the  Classics: 
in  the  library  of  Prince  Juan  were  printed 
editions  of  Terence  and  Pliny's  Letters  and 
a    manuscript    of    Quintus    Curtius;^     his 
mother's  library  contained  numerous  manu- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

36 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

scripts   of    Latin   authors.     But    we    may 
be  sure  that  this  was  not  true  for  the  great 
majority  of  students.     And  it  is  most  im- 
probable that  Garcilaso  enjoyed  any  such 
advantages.      For   his   immediate    family 
were    apparently    not    enthusiastic    about 
the  new  learning.    His  father  did  not  know 
Latin  and  Martin  de  Viciana  in  his  Libro 
de  alahanqas  d'  las  lenguas  hebrea,    griega, 
latina,   castellana,   y  valenciana   (Valencia, 
1574)1  relates  an  anecdote  of  how,  when 
ambassador  to  the  Pope,  he  delivered  an 
oration  in   Spanish  at  a  certain  poetical 
contest  on  Saint  Peter's  day,  1499,  which 
rivaled  any  of  the  compositions  in   Latin 
and  thereby  demonstrated  the  superiority 
of  the  Castilian  tongue.    The  poet's  uncle, 
Lorenzo  Suarez  de  Figueroa,  was  equally 
innocent  of  Latin;    Peter  Martyr  in  one 
of  his  letters  to   Ferdinand   V,^   protests 
bitterly   against   his   being   sent   back   to 
Venice   as   ambassador,    alleging   that   he 
could  neither   understand   his   diplomatic 
confreres    nor    be    understood    by    them, 
through    his    ignorance    of    the    standard 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

37 

language  of  diplomacy.     Nor  is  it  prob- 
able that  Garcilaso's  mother  knew  Latin, 
for  among  the  books  which   she   left   at 
her  death  in  1537,  largely  works  of  devo- 
tion, there  was  only  one  in  Latin,  a   Vita 
Christi,  and  of  this  she  also  had  a  Castilian 
version.^ 

Latin  was  not  the  only  language  which 
the  Spanish  himianists  cultivated.    Lebrija 
was  a  distinguished  scholar  in  Greek  and 
made     important     contributions     to     its 
study,  but  his  fame  was  surpassed  in  his 
time    by    that    of   the    Portuguese    Arias 
Barboso,    professor    at     Salamanca.       In 
spite  of  their  lectures  it  is  improbable  that 
the  study  of  Greek  made  any  real  progress 
in    Spain    until    Cardinal    Ximenez    sum- 
moned to  Alcala  Demetrius  of  Crete,  Juan 
de  Vergara  and  other  Hellenists,  to  assist 
in  the  preparation  of  the  Greek  text  of 
the    Complutensian    Polyglot    and    until 
Brocar,  the  famous  printer  of  the  Univer- 
sity, made  his  first  Greek  types  for  that 
work  and  printed  in   15 14  the  Erotemata 
of  Chrysoloras,  the  first  Greek  grammar 

' AND     MONOGRAPHS 

. 

38 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

issued  in   Spain,   and  the   Greek  text   of 
Musaeus'    Hero  and  Leander.^     But  even 
this  wave  of  interest  soon  subsided,  leav- 
ing only  a  few  ripples  of  devotion  to  the 
culture   of  the  Greeks,  and    the    Spanish 
Renaissance  was  content  to  read  its  Greek 
in  Latin  or  Castilian  translations. 

There  is  one  other  feature  of  the  human- 
ist  movement    in    Spain   which    deserves 
mention;  that  is  the  critical  study  of  their 
own    tongue.      Lebrija's   Gramaiica  caste- 
liana,    published    in    1492,2  antedates   by 
many  years  the  earliest  vernacular  gram- 
mars  of    Italian   and    French,    for    Gian- 
francesco    Fortunio's     Regole    gramaticali 
was  not  published  until  15163  and  the  first 
French  grammar  of  French  is  the   Trette 
de  la  grammere  franqoeze  (1550)  of  Louis 
Meigret."    The  value  of  Lebrija's  service, 
to  which  he  himself  was  fully  alive,  is  not 
easily  to  be   overestimated.      It  gave  to 
Castilian  usage  a  uniformity  which  was  a 
powerful    force    in    the    establishment    of 
good   diction   both   in   prose   and   poetry 
and  made  possible  the  production,  early 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

39 

in  the  sixteenth  century,  of  such  masterly 
prose  as  that  of  Juan  de  Valdes  and  such 
finished  verse  as  that  of  Garcilaso.     The 
pride  which  Lebrija  evinces  in  the  dignity 
and  adequacy  of  CastiHan  as  a  vehicle  for 
literary    expression    became    a    character- 
istic of  the  Spaniards  and  was  reflected  in 
their  works. ^ 

We  may  nov/  venture  to  form  some  pic- 
ture of  the  training  in  letters  which  Gar- 
cilaso as  a  boy  received.     As  a  child  at 
home  he  must  have  learned  to  recite  a 
few   Latin   prayers   and   hymns,    so   that 
when  he  first  went  to  begin  his  lessons  at 
the  house  of  his  master,  he  could  under- 
stand   the    sounds    of    Latin.      Through 
Lebrija's   Introductiones,    perhaps    in    the 
second  edition,  with  its  parallel  passages 
of   Latin   and   CastiHan,   he    learned   the 
rudiments   of   grammar.      His   first   book 
was  the  Disticha  Catonis.-     This  and  the 
other  moral  verses  of  its  kind  he  committed 
to  memory,  for  one  of  the  chief  tenets  of 
humanistic   education   was   the   value    of 
memory  work:    Italian  boys  of  the  period 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

40 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

could   recite   all   of    Sallust,    the    Aenead, 
and  other  works,  when  they  finished  their 
studies,  and  this  must  have  been  the  prac- 
tice in   Spain  as  well.     Then  began  the 
study  of  the  masters,  first  of  all  Virgil, 
the  great  model,  then  Ovid,  Martial  and 
Persius    of    the    poets    and    Sallust    and 
Caesar  of  the  historians.     He  was  taught 
to  imitate  their  work  in  Latin  verse  and 
prose  of  his  own,  and  to  write  elegantly 
Latin   letters   to  his   teacher   and  to  his 
friends.    Perhaps  too,  he  learned  a  smatter- 
ing  of   Greek.      Certainly   he   learned   to 
prize  his  own  vigorous,  majestic  Castilian. 
But  his  training  was  not  all  work;  he  must 
be   a  broad,   all-round  man;    and  so  he 
was  encouraged  to  run  and  ride  and  fence, 
to  build  his  body,  and  was  taught  to  dance, 
to  play  on  instrimients  and   sing,   to  fit 
him  for  the  social  duties  of  life.    His  father 
was  dead,  but  his  mother  Doiia  Sancha 
was  solicitous  of  the  welfare  of  her  child- 
ren;   his  brother  was  being  prepared  at 
the  Court  to  fill  his  place  as  head   of  the 
house;!  he  and  his  younger  brother,  Fran- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

41 

CISCO  de   Guzman,   who  later  was   Maes- 
trescuelas  at  Badajoz,  were  receiving  the 
training  in  letters  and  manners  which  be- 
fitted their  noble  station.     And  Garcilaso 
had  no  doubt  already  given  evidence  of 
unusual  ability  both  in  his  studies  and  in 
in  his  sports.    This  is  the  sort  of  lad  which 
we  must  picture,  when  one  day  in  January, 
1 516  word  was  brought  to   Toledo   that 
King  Ferdinand  was  dead. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

42 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

CHAPTER  III 

IN  THE  KING'S  SERVICE 

The    Archbishop    of    Toledo,    Cardinal 
Ximenez,    who   had   been   named    regent 
during  the  absence  of  the  heir  to  the  throne, 
Charles  of  Austria,  vigorously  upheld  the 
authority  of  that  prince  until  his  arrival 
in   Spain  in   September  of  the   following 
year.i     But  the  latter  was  not  received 
with  the  general  acclaim  which  his  coun- 
sellors expected.     The  Cortes  of  Castile, 
Aragon  and  Cataluna  were  slow  to  recog- 
nize his  title  and  issue  the  subsidies  he 
demanded.     For  the  Spaniards  craved  a 
Spanish  king  and  they  found  Charles  com- 
pletely in  the  hands  of  his  Flemish  advis- 
ers, surrounded  by  a  Flemish  court  and 
ignorant    even    of   the    Castilian    tongue. 
Toledo,  in  particular,  irritated  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  mere  boy,  the  nephew  of 
the  hated  Fleming  Chievres,  to  the  arch- 
bishopric of  the  Primate  in  place  of  the 
beloved  Cardinal  Ximenez,  who  had  died 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

43 

before  he  could  reach  the  king  to  pay  his 
allegiance,  showed  manifest  signs  of  open 
revolt.      At   this   juncture,    the    king   re- 
ceived the  news  of  his  election  as  emperor 
and    leaving    Barcelona,    hurried    across 
Spain  to  embark  for  Flanders.     At   San- 
tiago he  hastily  simmioned  the  Cortes  on 
April  I,  1520  to  make  further  requisition 
upon   his   Castilian   possessions   to   cover 
the  expenses  of  his  journey.    His  demands 
were  met  by  determined  protests  and  Gar- 
cilaso's  brother,  Pedro  Laso  de  la  Vega, 
who  was  one  of  the  Toledan  representa- 
tives, was  so  outspoken  in  his  opposition 
that  the  king  banished  him  to  his  fortress 
of    Gibraltar,    inherited   from   his   father, 
granting  him  forty  days  in  which  to  ful- 
fill his  command.  1 

Garcilaso  must  have  joined  the  Court 
by  this  time  and  arrayed  himself  among 
the  supporters  of  the  king,  for  on  the  26th 
of  April  Charles,  who  had  transferred  the 
Cortes    to    Corunna,    appointed    him    a 
contino,  or  member  of  his  personal  guard, 
with  a  salary  of  45,000  maravedis  a  year. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

44 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

and  a  further  grant  of  30,000  maravedis 
a    year    during    his    absence. ^      Garcilaso 
promptly  showed  his  gratitude  and  loyalty 
by  joining  with  the  Condestable  of  Castile 
in  a  request  to  one  of  the  Toledan  dele- 
gates that  he  should  go  to  Santiago   and 
urge   upon   his   brother   Pedro,    who   was 
plainly  delinquent  in  his  obedience  to  the 
king's  commands,  the  desirability  of  has- 
tening to  Gibraltar  in  the  five  days  which 
still  remained  before  the  expiration  of  the 
allotted   time. 2      Pedro   Laso   was   finally 
moved   to   compliance   and   started   upon 
his  journey.    But  unfortunately  he  stopped 
at  his  estate  of  Cuerva  near  Toledo,  and 
there  he  was  discovered  by  his  fellow  citi- 
zens, who  came  in  a  body    and    escorted 
him  back  to  the  city  in  triumph.     Toledo 
was  in  open  re  volt.  ^ 

The  news  of  the  situation  reached  Co- 
runna  on  May  8^  and  the  20th  of  the  month 
Charles  sailed, ^  leaving  as  his  viceroys  the 
Cardinal,  Adrian  of  Utrecht,  the  Condes- 
table   of    Castile,    and   the   Almirante  of 
Castile.     During  the  two  years  of  struggle 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  4o 


which  followed  in  the  task  of  repressing  the 
Comimidades,  Garcilaso  served  under  the 
colors  of  Juan  de  Rivera,  captain  of  the 
royal  forces. ^  That  he  showed  himself  to 
be  a  brave  and  daring  soldier  in  this,  his 
maiden  venture  in  arms,  we  are  assured 
by  the  reports  of  his  captain,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Olias,  on  August  17.  1521,  when 
the  Toledans,  who  were  in  no  small  straits 
for  provisions,  came  forth  to  scour  the 
coimtryside.  he  received  a  wound  in  the 
face.-  The  campaign  ended  in  a  victory 
for  the  royal  forces  with  the  surrender  of 
Toledo  on  October  25,  1521.  But  the 
fires  of  animosity  were  still  smouldering 
ai]d  on  February  2  in  the  following  year 
oiice  more  broke  into  flame.  The  rebels 
fortifxcd  themselves  in  the  house  of  Dona 
Maria  Pacheco,  widow  of  the  ill-fated 
Juan  de  Padiila,  and  for  a  time  successfully 
defended  themselves  against  the  authori- 
ties. The  house  of  the  Padillas  was  next 
to  that  of  Garcilaso  and  an  attempt  was 
made  to  penetrate  the  castle  of  the  insur- 
gents through  the  latter 's  yard.     The  ruse 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


46 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

was  discovered  in  time  and  thwarted.    But 
the  odds  were  too  great  and  the  leaders 
of  the  revolt  finally  surrendered  on  condi- 
tion  that   they  be   allowed  to  leave  the 
city  unharmed.  1 

Meanwhile  the  Spanish  king  had  been 
crowned  emperor  as  Charles  V  on  October 
23,   1 5  21  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.     In  the  fol- 
lowing year  after  a  brief  visit  with  Henry 
VIII  in  England,  he  embarked  at  South- 
ampton   and    on    July    i6th    landed    at 
Santander.2     On  August   5th  he  reached 
Palencia,   where  he   found  the  nobles  of 
his  Spanish  court  assembled  in  such  num- 
bers, according  to  Martin  de  Salinas,  that 
''there  was  not  room  for  them  all  standing 
{no  cahemos  de  pies)".^     As  a  contino  of 
the  royal  house,  Garcilaso  must  have  been 
numbered  in  this  throng;   perhaps  he  was 
also  one  of  the  many  who  were  eager  to 
urge  their  claims  for  reward  for  loyal  ser- 
vice to  the  Emperor.      But   even  before 
the  Court  left  Palencia  there  had  arrived 
from   Italy  news  of  an  alarming  nature 
which  was  to  affect  Garcilaso 's  experience. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

47 

CHAPTER  IV 

AN  ILL  FATED  EXPEDITION 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jeru- 
salem had  held  the  island  of  Rhodes  as 
a  bulwark  of  Christianity  against  the  in- 
fidels.i     The  latter  had  made  several  un- 
successful attempts  to  take  the  citadel  by 
siege.     With  the  accession  of  Solyman  the 
Magnificent,    they    once    more    took    up 
their  plans  for  the  conquest  of  Christen- 
dom and  on  June  i,  1522  the  Sultan  had 
sent  to  the  Grand  Master  of  Rhodes,  Vil- 
liers  de  ITsle-Adam,  a  peremptory  demand 
to    surrender    the    island. ^      His    message 
reached  Rhodes  on  the   14th  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  26th  the  vast  fleet  of  the 
Turks    appeared    off    the    harbor.      That 
night  the  Grand  Master  dispatched  mes- 
sengers   to    the    Pope    and    the-  various 
sovereigns   of   Europe,    warning   them   of 
the  peril  to  the  Order  and  to  the  whole  of 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

48 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Christendom  and  imploring  their  aid.      It 
was    a    month    before    these    messengers 
reached     Rome.       Adrian     VI,     recently 
elected  Pope,  was  still  in  Spain,  but  the 
College  of  Cardinals  wrote  to  Charles  V 
on  July  26th,  informing  him  of  the  situa- 
tion and  urging  him  to  send  prompt  suc- 
cor. ^    Their  letter  reached  the  Emperor  at 
Palencia.    The  latter,  on  August  25th,  just 
before  his  departure  for  Valladolid,  wrote 
to  La  Chaux  that  he  had  received  the  news, 
was  writing  to  his  allies  and  to  the  other 
Powers  of  Europe  to  take  energetic  action, 
and  had  himself  issued  orders  to  his  vice- 
roys at  Naples  and  in  Sicily  to  give  every 
possible  aid. 2     Immediately  upon  his  ar- 
rival at  Valladolid   (August   27)  he  sum- 
moned a  council  of  the  nobles  and  prelates 
of   the   realm   to   discuss   what   measures 
should  be  taken;    at  the  same  time  there 
arrived  the   special  envoy  of  the   Grand 
Master  of  Rhodes,  to  emphasize  the  urgen- 
cy of  the  situation. 3 

The  Prior  of  Castile  of  the  Order  of  St. 
John,  Diego  de  Toledo,  was  the  leader  in 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

49 

the  effort  to  bring  some  real  assistance  to 
the  beleaguered  knights.     Don  Diego  had 
been  forced  at  the  behest  of  Pope  Leo  X 
to  share  his  revenues  as  Prior  of  the  Order 
with  Antonio  de  Zuniga,i  but  he  had  been 
generally  recognized  in  Castile  as  the  true 
inciimbent  of  the  office  and  he  now  gave 
abundant  proof  that  his  claim  was  justified. 
He  soon  gathered  about  him  a  consider- 
able company  of  nobles  with  the  intent  of 
bearing  personal  reHef  to  Rhodes.    Among 
those    who   rallied   to   his    call   were   his 
brother  Pedro  de  Toledo,  Diego  de  Ace- 
vedo,  the  young  poet   Juan  Boscan,  and 
also  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega.- 

It  is  interesting  to  find  that  thus,   at 
the  very  beginning  of  his  career,  Garcilaso 
was  brought  into  the  closest  intimacy  with 
at  least  two  of  the  men  who  were  to  be 
his    truest    friends    throughout    his    life. 
Pedro  de  Toledo  »  later  ]Marquis  of  Villa- 
franca    and    viceroy  of    Naples,  was  one 
of  the  younger  sons  of  the  Duke  of  Alba, 
and  uncle  of  Heman  Alvarez  de  Toledo, 
heir  to  the  duchy,  whose  father  Don  Garcia 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

50 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


had  been  killed  in  the  expedition  to  Africa 
in  1 510.  We  shall  have  frequent  occasion 
to  mention  the  warm  friendship  which  he 
felt  for  Garcilaso.  Of  the  latter 's  friend- 
ship with  Boscan,  —  a  friendship  which 
lasted  even  in  death  —  so  much  has  been 
written  that  it  needs  no  comment  here. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  to  their  mutual 
encouragement  and  emulation  was  due  in 
no  small  measure  the  triumph  of  their 
literary  experiments. ^ 

The  gallant  company  of  Spanish  gentle- 
men left  Valladolid  on  the  last  day  of 
September. 2  Crossing  Spain,  they  em- 
barked at  Cartagena  for  Messina.  =*  Their 
carrack  was  attacked  by  a  fleet  of  Alger- 
ian corsairs  and  their  plight  seemed  des- 
perate, for  the  main-mast  was  shot  away 
and  their  rigging  wrecked.  Even  though 
they  received  several  shots  below  the 
water-line,  they  still  fought  on,  determined 
to  bum  their  ship  rather  than  surrender 
the  banner  of  St.  John  to  the  infidels. 
But  happily,  with  their  last  broadside, 
they  sank  the  flagship  of  the  enemy  and 


HI  SPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND      WORKS  51 


while  the  corsairs  were  engaged  in  the 
rescue  of  their  chief,  succeeded  in  escap- 
ing. Having  made  the  port  of  Ibiza  in 
the  Balearic  Islands,  they  spent  some 
weeks  in  refitting  their  ship  and  at  last 
reached  IMessina  at  the  beginning  of 
December.  There  they  foiind  that  the 
measures  for  gathering  the  relief  expedi- 
tion were  meeting  with  little  success.  Some 
of  the  sovereigns,  Hke  Henry  VHI  of  Eng- 
land, had  refused  to  send  any  aid ;  others, 
like  Francis  I  and  the  Pope  Adrian  VI, 
were  so  hesitant,  in  their  fear  of  exposing 
themselves  to  an  attack  from  their  enemies, 
that  their  forces  were  still  awaiting  equip- 
ment. And  finally,  the  several  expedi- 
tions outfitted  and  manned  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Order  in  different  countries 
suffered  a  worse  fate  than  the  company  of 
Diego  de  Toledo.  Some  were  attacked  by 
corsairs,  others  were  sunk  in  the  terrible 
storms  which  raged  on  the  Mediterranean 
that  winter  and  not  one  of  these  little 
fleets  reached  Messina  unscathed.  By  the 
middle  of   January  only  four  more  ships 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


52 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

had  reached  that  harbor,  while  seven 
others  were  still  lying  at  Naples,  waiting  for 
favorable  weather. ^ 

Meanwhile,  unaided,  against  terrific 
odds,  the  little  band  of  knights  at  Rhodes 
had  resisted  the  attacks  of  the  Turks.  But 
in  spite  of  their  heroic  efforts  they  had 
been  gradually  forced  to  relinquish  their 
defenses.  Their  bastions  were  battered 
and  mined;  the  enemy  had  constructed 
a  huge  mound  which  overtopped  the  cita- 
del and  which  enabled  them  to  subject 
the  defenders  to  a  merciless  bombardment. 
At  last  they  were  reduced  to  such  straits 
that  they  had  scarcely  ground  left  to  de- 
fend. It  was  then,  on  December  20th, 
that  the  Grand  Master,  despairing  of 
relief  from  the  West,  opened  negotiations 
with  the  enemy.  He  was  granted  the 
right  to  depart  with  all  of  his  knights.  On 
Christmas  Day,  the  Turks  entered  the  city.^ 

The  news  of  the  surrender  was  long  in 
reaching  Italy  and  even  after  authentic 
confirmation  had  come  through  the  ar- 
rival of  Gabriele  da  Martinengo,  a  knight 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  53 


of  the  Order  dispatched  by  the  Grand 
Master,  at  Gallipoli  in  Puglia,  the  Italians 
were  loath  to  admit  its  accuracy.  The 
Pope  said  on  first  hearing  the  report,  "I 
refuse  to  beHeve  it  yet,"  and  at  Naples, 
bets  were  offered  at  odds  of  five  to  one 
that  the  story  was  false.  The  Venetians 
in  particular,  who  might  have  saved  the 
island  had  they  been  wiUing  to  turn  a 
hand,  were  conscience -stricken  at  their 
betrayal  of  Christianity.  But  the  griev- 
ous news  proved  to  be  only  too  true, 
Martinengo  reached  Messina  and  checked 
the  preparations  for  the  expedition.  The 
rest  of  the  knights  and  the  Christian  inhabi- 
tants of  the  island  were  beset  by  illness 
and  by  storms  on  their  journey  to  Mes- 
sina. A  part  of  the  company  reached  the 
harbor  late  in  March :  not  until  the  begin- 
ning of  May  did  the  Grand  Master  enter 
the  port,  flying  at  his  masthead,  in  lieu 
of  the  banner  of  the  Order,  a  flag  bearing 
an  image  of  the  Virgin  with  the  dead 
Christ  in  her  arms  and  the  inscription 
"Afflictis  spes  unica  rebus. "^ 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


54 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

The  first  thought  of  the  Grand  Master 
after  his   arrival   was   to   investigate   the 
failure  of  his  knights  in  Europe  to  bring 
the  aid  he  had  called  for.    To  this  end  he 
at  once  called  a  council  of  the  Order  and 
arraigned   the   several   Priors.      Diego   de 
Toledo,  in  behalf  of  Castile  and  Portugal, 
and  the  others  explained  the  difficulties 
which  they  had  met,  recounting  the  losses 
they  had  suffered  and  the  impossibility  of 
sailing  in  such  storms  as  had  beset  them. 
When  the  long  story  of  their  trials  was 
finished,  the   Grand   Master  cried,   *'God 
be  forever  praised,  for  in  our  common  mis- 
hap he  has  granted  me  the  favor  of  the 
knowledge  that  never  shall  it  be  said  that 
our  misfortunes  were  due  to  the  negligence 
of  any  of  my  knights."    But  even  at  Mes- 
sina the  knights  were  subjected  to  further 
trials,  for  the  plague  broke  out  in  their 
midst.      Once  more  then  they  embarked 
and  sought  refuge  near  Baiae  on  the  ruins 
of   ancient  Cumae,  where  they  remained 
until  they  were  granted  a  temporary  asy- 
lum by  the  Pope  at  Civita  Vecchia.^ 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

55 

Such  is  the  story  of  this  ill-fated  expedi- 
tion.    We   do   not   know   how   Garcilaso 
bore  himself  in  it;    in  fact  our  knowledge 
that  he  participated  is  due  merely  to  a 
line  in  the  Carlo  famoso  of  Luis  Zapata. 
But  it  marks  a  period  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance in  his  Hfe  in  the  friendships  which 
he    made    during    these    long    months    of 
struggle  with  pirates  and  with  the  sea  and 
of  weary  waiting.    He  must  have  returned 
to  Spain  before  Diego  de  Toledo,  who  did 
not  reach  the  Court  imtil  December  5th, 
1523/  for  he  was  in  Valladolid  before  the 
Emperor  departed  at  the  end  of  August. 2 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

56 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

CHAPTER  V 

KNIGHTHOOD  AND  MARRIAGE 

The  Court  to  which  Garcilaso  returned 
was  of  a  very  different  character  from  that 
which  he  had  seen  in  1520.     For  Charles 
V   had   made   his   first   visit   to    Spain   a 
purely  business  trip;   his  only  thought  was 
to  extract  such  revenues  as  he  could  from 
the  several  Cortes.       But  he  had  now  re- 
turned  to  stay  and   was  apparently  in  a 
more  conciliatory  spirit   toward   his  sub- 
jects.    For  a  year  the  Court  had  been  es- 
tablished in  Valladolid;  on  All  Saint's  Day, 
1522,   he  had  issued  a  general  pardon  to 
those  who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolt  of 
the  Comunidades,  although  some  two  hun- 
dred and    seventy   names  were  excepted, 
among  them  that  of  Pedro  Laso  de  la  Vega, 
whose  return  to  the  royal  cause  had  failed 
to  win  him  favor  ;i    finally  at  the  session  of 
the  Cortes  held  in  August,  1523,  he  had 
granted  the  greater  part  of  the  fourteen 
demands   presented   by   his   subjects,    de- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS           57 

mands  which  in  large  measure  were  but  a 
repetition  of  the  pleas  for  reform  for  which 
the   Comunidades  had  fought.      Not  the 
least  among  them  w^as  the  demand  that 
henceforth  none  but  Spaniards  should  be 
named  as  officers  of  the  royal  household.  ^ 
There  was  another  respect  in  which  the  Hfe 
of  the  Court  was  changed.    Charles  V,  after 
several  projects  for  advantageous  marriages 
had  come  to  nought,  was  still  a  bachelor. 
But  in  June,  1523  his  older  sister,  Eleanor 
of  Austria,  who  had  been  left  a  widow  in 
15  21,  after  two  years  of  married  life  with 
Emanuel  I  of  Portugal,  returned  to  Spain 
with  the  ladies  of  her  suite  and  established 
herself  at  Court. ^      Her  palace  at  once  be- 
came the  social  centre  of  the   kingdom  ;3 
for  the  first  time  since  the  death  of  Queen 
Isabella  the  young  nobility  found  a  field 
for  its   gallantry. 

It  is  not  siu-prising  that  in  these  new 
conditions  Garcilaso  found  especial  favor. 
Herrera  tells  us  that  he  was  a   favorite 
with  the  ladies  of  the  Court  because  of 
his  noble  birth,  his  knowledge  of  letters. 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

58 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the  elegance  of  his  verses  and  his  gallant 
manners.  1    And  we  may  well  believe  that 
this  brave  young  knight,  freshly  returned 
from  an  adventure  that  had  much  which 
was  romantic  about  it,  was  at  once  re- 
ceived with  enthusiasm  by  the  circle  of 
Dofia  Leonor.     From  the  Emperor  he  re- 
ceived even  more  solid  evidences  of  favor. 
At  the  Chapter  of  the  Order  of  Santiago 
which  was  concluded  on  August  25th,  the 
day  that  the  Court  left  Valladolid,  Gar- 
cilaso  was  one  of  the  twenty-eight  gentle- 
men, out  of  the  two  hundred  and  ten  or 
more   who   craved   admission,    who   were 
honored  with  knighthood  in  that  Order. 2 
It  is  easy  to  see  in  his  appointment  the 
influence  of  Pedro  de  Toledo,  for  the  latter 
was  Comendador  of  Monreal  in  the  Order 
of  Santiago.     The  Emperor  and  his  court 
reached  Burgos  on  the  29th.3     There  on 
September   nth,   Garcilaso   presented  his 
prueha  of  nobility,   with   Pero   Abrera  of 
Cordova  as  his  witness*  and  on  the  i6th 
Charles  V  issued  the  cedula  of  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  habit  and  insignia  of  Santiago. ^ 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

59 

At  least  a  part  of  the  Emperor's  will- 
ingness to  accede  to  the  demands  of  the 
Cortes  was  due  to  his  desire  to  gain  its 
support  in  his  project  for  the  invasion  of 
France  by  way  of  Navarre.     This  plan  he 
now  proceeded  to  carry  out.    The  expedi- 
tion was  after  all  popular  with  the  Span- 
iards, who  had  not  forgotten  the  invasion 
of  Navarre  by  the  French  two  years  be- 
fore,   nor   their   continued   occupation   of 
Fuenterrabia.     The  Emperor  left  Burgos 
on  September  i6th  for  Logrono,  where  he 
remained  until  the  gth  of  October,  organ- 
izing his   campaign.     On  the   ist   of  the 
month  he  issued  a  list  of  the  Spanish  mem- 
bers  of  his  household,   appointed  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  promise  to  the  Cortes; 
among    them    Garcilaso    was     named    a 
"gentleman  of   the  House  of  Flanders."  ^ 
For  the  next  seven  years  we  shall  find  him 
constantly  in  the  service  of  the  Emperor. 
The  chief  elements  of  the  invading  army 
were    now    ready.      The    Condestable    of 
Castile  was  named  commander,  while  the 
Prince  of  Orange  was  placed  in  charge  of 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

60 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the    Spanish   infantry   and   Rocandorf   in 
charge  of  the  Germans.     In  all  they  num- 
bered thirty  thousand  infantry  and  three 
thousand   knights,   together   with   such   a 
provision  of  artillery  as  never  before  had 
been  seen  in  Spain.     This  force  mobilized 
in  Pamplona  by  the  middle  of  October  and 
early  in  November  the  first  units  began 
to  cross  the  Pyrenees  by  way  of  San  Juan 
de  Pie  de  Puerto  and  Roncesvalles.^ 

Garcilaso  was  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Court  who  took  part  in  this  campaign,  but 
before  his  departure  he  was  armed  a  knight 
of    Santiago    in    the    monastery    of    San 
Agostin    in    Pamplona    on    the    nth    of 
November.2     It  was  his  friend  and  pro- 
tector Pedro  de  Toledo  who  dubbed  him 
knight;     among    the    witnesses    was    his 
brother-in-law,  Luis  Puertocarrero,  Count 
of  Palma.    The  first  stages  of  the  invasion 
were  marked  by  successes,  in  spite  of  an 
early  winter  and  an  exceptionally  heavy 
snowfall.     Once  across  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Spaniards    captured    Monleon    (Mauleon) 
on  the  4th  of  December  and  after  a  brief 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS     !      61 


siege,  entered  Salvatierra  (Sauveterre)  on 
the  isth.i  Here  Garcilaso  was  quartered 
in  the  house  of  a  surgeon.  Six  years  later 
when  he  drew  up  his  will,  he  remembered 
that  he  had  not  paid  him  for  his  mainte- 
nance.^  Plainly  those  were  days  when  the 
sense  of  personal  honor  was  still  strong 
in  war.  The  initial  successes,  however, 
were  not  followed  up.  Instead  of  pushing 
on  to  Bayonne,  the  Spanish  generals  de- 
cided to  turn  back  and  la}^  siege  to  Fuen- 
terrabia.  The  undertaking  proved  diffi- 
cult; it  was  the  27th  of  February  in  the 
following  year  before  the  garrison  sur- 
rendered and  the  Spanish  forces  entered 
the  town. 3  Perhaps  it  was  during  this 
siege  that  Garcilaso  first  came  to  know 
Fernan  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  heir  to  the 
duchy  of  Alba.  For  it  was  here  for  the 
first  time  that  the  young  knight,  although 
but  sixteen  years  of  age,  served  in  the 
field  against  the  enemy,  and  this,  as  Peter 
Martyr  tells  us,  in  spite  of  his  grandfather's 
express  prohibition.* 

Fernan  Alvarez,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


62 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

was  the  nephew  of  Pedro  de  Toledo  and 
of  the  Prior  of  St.  John,  was  the  third  of 
Garcilaso's    intimate    friends,    so    that    a 
word  concerning  their  early  relations  will 
be  of  interest.  1     While  the  Duke  of  Alba 
was  in  Belgium  with  the  Emperor  in  1522, 
he  had  attempted  to  secure  the  services 
of  Erasmus  as  preceptor  of  his  grandsons. 
But  the  friar  who  undertook  to  deliver  his 
offer,  failed  to  carry  out  his  instructions. 
Thereupon,     the     Duke,     believing     that 
Erasmus    had    refused   his   proposal,    ap- 
pointed a  Dominican  monk,  Fray  Severo, 
and  when  he  returned  to  Spain  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  Emperor  during  the  summer, 
brought  him  with  him  to  Castile.     Upon 
the  return  of  the  Spanish  companions  of 
Diego  de   Toledo  in   the   following   year, 
Boscan  was  made  ayo,  a  combination  of 
the  two  functions  of  counsellor  and  com- 
rade, of  Don  Fernando.     In  a  manuscript 
of  the  Hesperodia,  a  panegyric  on  the  life 
of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Alba,  by  Jeronimo 
Bermudez,  Garcilaso  is  named  as  ayo  of 
Fernan  Alvarez  together  with  Boscan,  but 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

63 

it  is  unlikely  that  this  is  true,  for  Gar- 
cilaso  makes  no  mention  of  such  a  relation 
between   himself   and   Don   Fernando,   of 
which  he  might  well  have  been  proud,  in 
the  passage  in  his  second  Eclogue  where  he 
describes  the  latter 's  training  and  speaks 
in  such  definite  terms  of  Severo  and  Bos- 
can.    It  is  nevertheless  certain  that  he  was 
on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy  with  Don 
Fernando  as  with  the  other  members  of 
his  family.     One  of  his  earliest  composi- 
tions,  the   villancico   on  the   theme    "Que 
testimonios  son  estos"  was  one  of  a  group 
of  verses  dedicated  to  Luis  de  la  Cueva 
"because  he  danced  at  Court  with  a  lady 
whom   they   called   'La   Paxara'  ".^     The 
other  versifiers  were,  the  Duke  of  Alba,  the 
Prior  of  St.  John,  Boscan,  Feman  Alvarez 
de    Toledo,    the     Clavero    of    Alcantara 
(another  of  the  sons  of  the  Duke  of  Alba), 
Luis  Osorio,   Garcia  de  Toledo,   Gutierre 
Lopez  de  Padilla  and  the  Marquis  of  Villa- 
franca.     It  is  an  interesting  family  group; 
not  one  of  the  house  of  Toledo  is  missing. 
And  since  it  includes  the  name  of  the  Duke  as 

AND    MONOGRAPHS     1 

1 

64 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

among  those  at  Court,  the  verses  must  have 
been  written  before  1531.^  The  fortunes 
of  Garcilaso  are  at  every  point  in  contact 
with  his  protectors  of  the  house  of  Toledo. 

We  are  ignorant  of  the  whereabouts  of 
Garcilaso  during  the  year  which  followed 
the  fall  of  Fuenterrabia.  Having  achieved 
this  small  success,  the  Emperor  disbanded 
his  Spanish  troops  and  returned  to  Burgos 
with  his  Court.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  Garcilaso  spent  the  year  at  the  monas- 
tery of  Ucles  as  a  novice  of  the  Order  of 
Santiago  in  fulfillment  of  the  express 
orders  issued  by  the  Emperor  in  the  cedula 
of  his  appointment. 2  As  soon  as  the  period 
of  his  noviciate  was  ended,  he  must  have 
returned  to  the  service  of  the  Emperor, 
and  this  brings  us  to  an  interesting  event 
in  his  life. 

Among  the  ladies  of  the  suite  of  Eleanor 
of  Austria,  who  did  so  much  to  enliven  the 
atmosphere  of  the  Court,  Garcilaso  had 
early  met  Dona  Elena  de  Zuiiiga,  daughter 
of  liiigo  de  Ziiniga,  maestresala  of  Queen 
Isabella.      If   we   might    believe   Andreas 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

65 

Schott,  Doiia  Elena  had  succumbed  to  the 
blandishments  of  the  verses  which   Gar- 
cilaso  was  wont  to  lavish  upon  the  fair 
ladies.  1     It  is  possible  that  some  of  the 
verses  in  Castilian  metres  which  have  sur- 
vived as  Garcilaso's  were  addressed  to  her; 
such  compositions  as  his  "Acaso  supo,  ami 
ver,"  are  sufficiently  colorless  and  imper- 
sonal to  apply  to  any  or  all  of  the  ladies 
of  the  Court.     At  least  we  may  be  sure 
that  the  success  of  Garcilaso's  suit  for  her 
hand  made  him  an  object  of  envy.     Dona 
Elena   came   from   a   family   which   could 
trace  its  ancestry  to  as  dim  a  past  as  his 
own;2    what  was  of  even  greater  moment' 
in  those  days,  the  Emperor  and  his  sister 
Eleanor  approved  of  the  marriage.      The 
extent  of  their  approval  is  revealed  in  cer- 
tain financial  documents  which  have  been 
preserved.     On  August  25,  1525,  the  Em- 
peror made  a  grant  of  60,000  maravedis 
a  year  to  Garcilaso,  with  order  that  the 
first  three  years  should  be  paid  to  him 
together  on  January  ist  of  the  following 
year. 3    Two  days  later  the  usual  marriage 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

66 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

contracts  were  drawn  up  by  Dona  Elena 
and  Garcilaso.    From  them  it  appears  that 
Dona  Elena  brought  as  her  dowry  2,575,- 
000   maravedis    (a   little   less   than    7,000 
ducats),  of  which  she  had  received  1,000,- 
000  from  the  Emperor,  600,000  from  the 
King  of  Portugal,  and  3 7 5, 000 from  Eleanor 
of  Austria.     The  dower  which  Garcilaso 
settled  upon  her  was   2,000  ducats,  one- 
tenth  of  his  total  estate  of  20,000  ducats.^ 
It  is  difficult  to  give  any  precise  meaning 
to  these  figures  in  terms  of  modern  cur- 
rency or  modern  buying  power.      But  if 
we  remark  that  the  annual  grant  made  to 
Garcilaso  of  60,000  maravedis  (160  ducats) 
must  have  been  regarded  as  sufficient  for 
his  maintenance  and  if,  three  years  later 
he  was  able  to  purchase  a  house  in  Toledo 
at    a    cost    of    550,000    maravedis    (1466 
ducats),  it  becomes  plain  that  Garcilaso 's 
fortune  and  his  bride's  dowry  were  con- 
siderable  according   to   the   standards   of 
the  time,  which  is  the  more  interesting  be- 
cause Garcilaso  was  not  the  heir  to  his 
father's  estates. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


67 


We  may  assume  these  contracts  were 
immediately  followed  by  the  ceremonies 
of  betrothal  and  marriage  and  that  since 
the  Court  was  then  in  Toledo,  the  young 
couple  took  up  their  residence  at  the 
house  of  Garcilaso's  mother,  Dona  Sancha 
de  Guzman.  It  is  not  easy  to  judge  what 
were  Garcilaso's  relations  with  his  wife. 
There  is  not  one  mention  of  her  in  all  of 
his  writings,  imless  we  except  his  last  will 
and  testament.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
sincerest  and  most  ardent  of  his  poems 
were  inspired  by  Isabel  Freire,  w^hom  we 
shall  presently  meet.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  this  neglect  of  one's  wife  for  some 
other  mistress  was  merely  a  conventional, 
poetic  pose  of  the  time,  for  Boscan's 
noblest  verses  are  those  that  reveal  his 
devotion  to  his  wife,  Dofia  Ana  Giron  de 
Rebolledo.  If  we  may  judge  by  numerous 
other  examples  of  court  practice,  such  as 
the  imion  of  the  Marchioness  of  Cenete 
with  the  Count  of  Nassau,  marriages  were 
not  made  in  heaven  in  the  early  sixteenth 
century.     Dona  Elena  was  the  lady  of  the 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


68 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Emperor's  choice  and  Garcilaso  accepted 
this  marriage   de  convenance  as   he  would 
have  accepted  another  of  his  sovereign's 
commands. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS     i      69 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  COURTIER  OF  THE  EMPEROR 

These  years  in  which  Charles  had  been 
specializing  as  king  of  Spain  had  also  been 
a  season  of  prosperity  for  the  Imperial 
arms  in  Italy.  On  March  3rd  of  the  year 
in  which  Garcilaso  was  married  there 
reached  Madrid  the  glad  tidings  that  on 
the  Emperor's  birthday,  February  24th, 
the  armies  of  France  had  been  defeated 
at  Pavia  and  the  king,  Francis  I,  made  a 
prisoner.  1  Almost  immediately  after  the 
latter 's  arrival  at  -Madrid  in  August  under 
the  guard  of  the  Viceroy  of  Naples,  the 
long  discussion  over  the  terms  of  peace 
between  Charles  and  Francis  began.  On 
one  point  both  of  the  monarchs  were  ready 
to  agree,  that  Francis  I  should  marry 
Charles'"  sister  Eleanor  of  Austria.  But 
the  other  conditions  were  not  so  easily 
settled  as  these  family  matters.  Dofia 
Eleanor  left  Toledo  on  October  6th  for 
Talavera,   where   she   remained  "in   bond 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


70 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

{en  dep6sito)'\  as  Martin   de  Salinas  put 
it,  awaiting  the  outcome  of    the    negoti- 
ations. ^   At  last  on  January  14,  1526,  the 
treaty  between  the  kings    was  signed  at 
Madrid.     On  the  20th  of  the  month  Queen 
Germana,  widow  of  Ferdinand  V,  and  now 
once  more  widow  of  the  Marquis  of  Branden- 
burg,   reached    Toledo.      The    Emperor   in 
person,  attended  by  the  principal  nobles  of 
the  Court,  among  them  the  Duke  of  Alba 
and   Diego  de  Toledo,  rode  out  to   Santa 
Lucia  to  escort  her  to  the  city.    It  was  dark 
when  they  crossed  the  bridge  of  Alcantara, 
so  that  the  pages  of  the  company  had  to 
light  their  way  with  torches  through  the  nar- 
row streets  till  they  reached  the  houses  of 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  which  had  been  as- 
signed to  her  for  her  lodging,  as  being  among 
the  best  in  Toledo.^ 

Her  stay  as  a  guest  of  Garcilaso  was  brief, 
for  within  a  few  days  she  started  for  Torrijos 
to  meet  Queen  Eleanor.     But  on  the  ist  of 
February  the  two  queens  rettirned  to  Toledo 
and  we  may  assume  that  she  was  again 
lodged  at  the  house  of  Garcilaso.    It  is  inter- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

71 

esting  to  find  this  intimacy  between  Dona 
Germana  and  Dona  Eleanor,  for  Garcilaso's 
wife,  Dofia  Elena  de  Zufiiga  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  lady-in-waiting  of  the  latter.    Under 
these  circumstances  it  is  unquestionable  that 
both  Garcilaso  and  his  wife  were  numbered 
in  the  suite  of  the  Queens  when  they  went 
to  Illescas  on  the  i6th  of  February  to  meet 
the  king  of  France,  who  was  then  at  Torrejon 
with  the  Emperor.    Perhaps,  too,  they  were 
among  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  danced 
before  the  sovereigns  on  the  following  days. 
As  soon  as  Francis  I  left  for  France,  Charles 
V  returned  to  Illescas  to  take  leave  of  his 
sister,  before  starting  for  Seville,  where  he 
was  to  be  married  to  Isabella  of  Portugal. 
On  the  day  that  he  set  out  on  his  journey, 
February    22nd,    Dona   Eleanor   and   Dofia 
Germana    returned    to    Toledo    with    their 
suites.     Three   days   later   they   separated, 
Dofia  Germana  starting  for  Seville  and  Dofia 
Eleanor  for  Vitoria  in  the  wake  of  her  royal 
fiance.^ 

Among  the  company  that  left  Toledo  on 
the  24th  and  25th  when  the  Court  departed 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

72 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

for  Seville  were  the  ambassadors  of  the  for- 
eign powers.  1     Two  of  them  at  least  must 
have  been  known  to  Garcilaso,  Andrea  Nava- 
gero,   ambassador  of  the   Serene  Republic, 
and  Baldassare  Castiglione,   Papal  Nuncio, 
who  had  come  to   Spain  in  the  preceding 
year.    They  were  both  men  of  letters  and  it 
is  to  them  that  we  must  attribute  the  first 
interest  in  Tuscan  literature  which  Garcilaso 
and  his  friend  Boscan  did  no  much  to  further. 
It  is  possible  that   Garcilaso  accompanied 
them  on  this  journey  to  Seville,  which  they 
made  by  way  of  Guadelupe,  while  the  Em- 
peror followed  the  road  through  Trujillo  and 
Merida.     They  reached   Seville  on   March 
8th,  two  days  before  the  Emperor,  who  had 
stopped  for  several  days  at  Oropesa.    They 
found  Isabella  of  Portugal  already  arrived 
with  her  suite.     At  midnight  of  the  day  of 
Charles  V's  arrival,  the  royal  couple   was 
married  by  the  Papal  Legate,  Cardinal  Sal- 
viati.2 

The  celebration  of  the  Emperor's  wedding 
was  marred  by  two  untoward  events:    the 
death  of  his  sister,  the  Queen  of  Denmark, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

73 

and  the  news  of  the  murder  of  the  Bishop 
of  Zamora  in  the  castle  of  Simancas,  where 
he  had  been  in  confinement  since  the  Comu- 
nidades.   But  during  the  stay  in  Seville  there 
was  at  least  one  brilliant  tournament,  where 
the  yoimg  Feman  Alvarez  de  Toledo  and  his 
uncle,  Diego  de  Toledo,  were  especially  dis- 
tinguished for  the  gorgeousness  of  their  trap- 
pings, covered  with  gold  and  silver  and  with 
"tiny  silver  bells  upon  their  steeds,  and  at 
which  the   Empress  granted  the  prizes  to 
those  who  had  made  the  bravest  show  in  the 
joust. ^    On  the  very  eve  of  the  departure  of 
the   Court   for    Granada,    Queen    Germana 
once  more  became  a  bride,  though  she  was 
more  than  fat  and  forty;  this  time  the  lucky 
man  was   Ferdinand   of  Aragon,    Duke   of 
Calabria. 2    With  her  return  to  the  regency 
of  Valencia,  Garcilaso  lost  another  influential 
friend. 

For  the  next  six  months  the  Court  was 
established  at  Granada.     To  m.ost  of  the 
members  of  the  company  this  sojourn  must 
have  been,  as  it  was  to  Navagero,  a  season 
of  immixed  delight .   To  the  cultured  Venetian 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

174 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the  gardens  of  the  Generalife,  with  their  flow- 
ing streams  and  cool  retreats,  seemed  to  lack 
but  one  thing:  "some  one  to  appreciate  them 
and  enjoy  them,  living  there  in  calm  and 
peace  among  his  studies  and  the  pleasures 
that  become  a  gentleman,  without  craving 
for  more."  ^    We  may  form  some  idea  of  the 
sort  of  things  which  he  and  the   Spanish 
courtiers  discussed  during  their  long,  idle 
days  from  the  famous  letter  which  Boscan 
addressed  to  the  Duchess  of  Soma  as  a 
Prologue  to  his  verses  in  the  Italian  style. 
Often  as  the  passage  has  been  quoted,  it 
will  bear  repetition.     "Being  one  day  in 
Granada    with     Navagero,"    he    says,-  " 
whom  I  have  desired  to  name  here  to  Your 
Ladyship  as  one  of  the  celebrated  men  of 
our  day,   and  discussing  with  him  ques- 
tions of  talent  and  of  letters,  especially  the 
varieties  of  many  languages,  he  asked  me 
why  I  did  not  try  to  write  in  Castilian, 
sonnets  and  other  forms   of  composition 
used  by  the  good  authors  in  Italy;    and 
not  only  did  he  say  it  thus  casually,  but 
he  even  urged  me  to  do  so.     I  departed 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


75 


a  few  days  later  for  my  home;  and  along 
the  long  and  lonely  road,  ruminating  upon 
diverse  matters  I  reverted  many  times  to 
what  Navagero  had  said  to  me;  and  so 
I  began  to  try  this  type  of  verse.  At  first 
I  found  some  difficulty  in  it,  for  it  is  ex- 
ceeding artificial  and  has  many  pecuHari- 
ties  differing  from  ours.  But  afterwards 
fancying,  perhaps  with  that  love  we  have 
for  things  our  own,  that  I  was  beginning 
to  have  some  success,  I  found  my  interest 
in  it  warming  little  by  little.  But  this 
would  not  have  been  enough  to  make  me 
achieve  great  progress,  if  Garcilaso  with 
his  judgment,  —  which  not  only  in  my 
opinion,  but  in  everyone's,  must  be  looked 
upon  as  a  guide,  —  had  not  confirmed 
me  in  my  intent.  And  so,  often  times 
praising  this  my  plan  and  finally  approv- 
ing it  by  his  example,  because  he  too 
decided  to  take  this  path,  he  at  last  made 
me  occupy  my  idle  moments  in  it  more 
seriously.  And  when  my  judgment  was 
opened  by  his  persuasion,  new  reasons 
occurred  to  me  each  day  to  make  me  carry 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


76 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

on  the  undertaking  which  I  had  begun." 
Such  is  the  genesis  of  the  Italian  school 
of  poetry  in  Spain.     Nowhere,  probably, 
in  the  whole  history  of  Hterature  is  their 
a   more   striking   example   of   literary   in- 
fluence of  one  nation  upon  another  thus 
definitely  revealed.     And   if   Boscan   was 
on  terms  of  such  intimacy  with  the  Ve- 
netian,  we  may   assume  that  Garcilaso  as 
well  came  under  his  influence.     Perhaps  at 
Granada,  for  the  first  time,  they  came  to 
appreciate    Petrarch    and    his    successors. 
From    Castiglione,    too,    whose   Lihro   del 
cortegiano  was  already  becoming  known  in 
manuscripts    in    Italy,    they    must    have 
received    encouragement    in    their    efforts 
to  ennoble  their  native  tongue,  which  they 
had  learned  to  admire  and  respect  as  boys 
in  school.     We  cannot  begrudge  the  stay 
of  Charles  V  at  Granada,  though  his  ill- 
fated  palace  destroyed  much  that  could 
never  be  replaced,  for  it  gave  to  Spain  a 
new  poetry. 

HISPANIC    NO.TES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

77 

CHAPTER  VII 

ISABEL  FREIRE 

Concerning    Garcilaso's    life    at    Court 
during  the  next  three  years  we  have  no 
information.     There   are   a   few  personal 
documents,    however,     which    reveal    his 
financial  prosperity.     On  the  eve  of  his 
marriage,    his    brother,    Francisco    de    la 
Vega,  who  had  entered  the  church,  had 
renounced  his  share  of  his  father's  estate 
and  ceded  it  to  Garcilaso;    before  his  de- 
parture   from     Toledo    for     Seville,     his 
mother  had  favored  him  with  a  third  and 
a  fifth  of  her  estate  as  a  reward  for  the 
"obedience  and  respect  which  he  showed 
and  the  many  services  he  had  done  and 
was  doing  every  day."     With  these  addi- 
tions to  his  estate  Garcilaso  was  able  to 
purchase  lands  along  the  Tagus  and  on 
the  nth  of  March.  1528,  he  acquired  for 
the  sum  of  550.000  maravedis  a  group  of 
houses  belonging  to  Antonio  de  Cepeda  and 
Catalina  de  Arroyal.     This  property  was 
situated  in  the  parish  of  Santa  Leocadia 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

78 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

on  the  Calle  Real,  just  at  the  foot  of  the 
slope  on  which  his  father's  house  stood; 
his  neighbors  were  his  friend  the  Marquis 
of  Villafranca,  Pedro  de  Toledo,  and  Juan 
de  Ayala.i    The  need  of  an  establishment 
of  his  own  had  become  imperative,  for  his 
wife  Dofia  Elena  had  already  given  birth 
to  two  sons,  the  elder  called  Garcilaso  like 
his  father  and  his  paternal  grandfather, 
the  younger  named  Inigo  de  Zuniga  after 
his  maternal   grandfather.      During    1528 
another  son  was  born  who  received  the 
name  of  Pedro  de  Guzman. ^     Apparently 
Garcilaso  did  not  venture  to  give  him  his 
brother's  full  name  of  Pedro  Laso  de  la 
Vega  y  de  Guzman,  for  Pedro  Laso  was 
still   distinctly  unpopular   with   the   Em- 
peror, especially  since  his  armed  resistance 
during   the   campaign   in    Navarre,    when 
Charles  V  had  been  forced  to  send  troops 
to  seize  his  fortress  of  Los  Arcos;  ^   in  fact 
his  situation  and  in  particular  his  unremit- 
ting efforts  to  secure  pardon  must  have 
been  a  by- word  at  the  Court,  for  France- 
sillo  de  Zuniga,   in  his  whimsical  Cronica, 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

79 

swears  by  "Pedro  Laso's  hope  for  favor."i 
There  is,   however,    during  these  three 
years  an  episode  in  the  life  of  Garcilaso 
which  is  of  the  greatest  significance  in  his 
literary  activity.     Among  the  ladies  who 
came  from  Portugal  in  1526  in  the  train 
of  Doiia  Isabella,  there  was  one  of  such 
charm,  according  to  Faria  y  Sousa,^  that 
the   prospective   bride   declared   that   she 
would  not  depart  for  Castile,  if  she  might 
not  take  her  in  her  company.    Doiia  Isabel 
Freire,  for  this  was  her  name,  had  already 
inspired  in  the  greatest  of  the  Portuguese 
poets  of  his  time,  Francisco  Sa  de  ^liranda, 
a  love  which   found  such   exuberant   ex- 
pression that  it  had  brought  upon  the  poet 
a  decree  of  exile  from  the  Court. ^     That 
Garcilaso  had  every   opportimity  to  be- 
come familiar  with  her  and  her  charms  is 
obvious  from  their  residence  together  at 
Court  during  the  next  three  years.    Before 
Garcilaso   left    Spain  in    1529,   when  the 
Emperor  with  his  Court  started  for  Italy, 
Doiia  Isabel  was  married  to  Antonio  de 
Fonseca,  lord  of  Toro.    The  exact  date  we 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

80 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

do  not  know;   it  must  have  been  between 
October,  1528,  and  March,  1529,  for  Luis 
Zapata  in  his  Misceldnea  says  that  they 
were    married    while    the    Court    was    at 
Toledo,  1  and  between  the  time  of  the  Em- 
peror's  marriage    and   his    departure    for 
Italy  the  Court  was  established  at  Toledo 
only  during  these  months. ^     The  quintillas 
which  Garcilaso  wrote  commemorating  this 
marriage  are  the  first  of  his  verses  to  which 
it  is  possible  to  assign  a  definite  date,  al- 
though only  recently  has  the  connection 
between  them  and  the  later  poems  been 
made  plain. 

In  the  1574  edition  of  his  works,  edited 
by    the    learned    Francisco    Sanchez,    "el 
Brocense,"  appeared  for  the  first  time  a 
cancion  in  Spanish  meter,  beginning  ''Culpa 
deve  ser  quereros,"  which  bore  as  its  head- 
ing: "Aviendose  casado  su  dama."  ^     This 
was  a  vague  inscription  and  might  well 
have   referred   to   any   youthful   affair   or 
even  to  an  imaginary  disappointment.   But 
in  a  manuscript  of  the  Gayangos  collection, 
now  in  the  Biblioteca  Nacional,"  the  verse 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

81 

has  the  following  rubric:    "A  Dona  Ysabel 
Freyra,   porque   se   caso   con   un  hombre 
fuera  de  su  condicion."    The  phrase  "fuera 
de   su   condicion"   offers   some   difficulty; 
plainly  it  cannot  be  taken  as  referring  to 
a  difference  in  rank,  for  although  Dona 
Isabel  belonged  to  the  house  of  the  Dukes 
of  Braganza,   the  house  of   Fonseca  was 
one  of  the  distinguished  noble  families  of 
Spain  and  Don  Antonio  was  later  regidor 
of  Toledo.  1     It  must  then  refer  to  some 
personal  trait.     The  mere  fact  that  Don 
Antonio    was    commonly    known    as    "el 
Gordo"  is  not  sufficient  to  explain  the  al- 
lusion; but  in  the  first  Eclogue  of  Garcilaso, 
where  SaUcio,  —  the  poet  in  the  role  of 
the  disappointed  lover  —  exclaims, 

JMateria  diste  al  mundo  de  esperanga 
de  alcangar  lo  impossible  y  no  pensado 
y  de  hazer  juntar  lo  differente, 
dando  a  quien  diste  el  cora^on  malvado .  .  . 
y  con  las  simples  aves  sin  roydo 
haran  las  bravas  sierpes  ya  su  nido; 
que  mayor  differencia  comprehendo 
de  ti  al  que  as  escogido. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

82 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

it  becomes  clear  that  the  incompatibility 
was  a  spiritual  one.     This  same  feeling  is 
revealed  by  Sa  de  Miranda  in  the  closing 
lines  of  his  gloss  on  the  old  song,i 

En  toda  la  transmontana 
nunca  vi  cosa  mejor 
que  era  la  esposa  de  Anton, 
vaquerizo  de  Morana, 

written,  as  Braga  has  pointed  out,^  on  the 
news  of  Dofia  Isabel's  marriage,  when  he 
says, 

Que  e  isto  que  assi  engana 
e  assi  despreza  a  razao  ? 
que  sospira  por  Ant  do 
que  nao  tem  nada  de  humana. 

Unfortunately  we  have  very  little  in- 
formation as  to  the  real  natiu-e  of  the  in- 
timacy   between     Garcilaso     and     Isabel 
Freire.      That   his   affection   for  her   was 
intense  and  sincere  we  may  be  sure,  with- 
out the  statement  of  Faria  y  Sousa,  for 
it  is  reflected  in  the  intensity  and  sincerity 
of  every  line  which  he  wrote  in  memory 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

83 

of  her.     In  the  first   Eclogue  he   has   left 
a   vague    picture    of    the    early    days    of 
their  acquaintanceship,  their  happiness  to- 
gether  and   even   their   tender   promises. 
But  there  is  a  passage  in  the  second  Eclogue 
which  shows  that  the  poet  was  not  wholly 
proud  of  the  role  which  he  was  playing.    In 
the  lines  in  which  Nemoroso,  —  an  older 
and  wiser  Garcilaso,  —  sings  the  praises 
of  Severo,  the  preceptor  of  Fernan  Alvarez 
de   Toledo,   as   a   physician  for   love-sick 
swains,  he  refers  to  his  own  experiences  in 
such   matters    and    recalls    how    Severo 's 
advice  had  saved  him  from  the  folly  and 
the  danger  of  his  ways  and  made  him  see 

sin  antojos  delante,  la  vileza 

de  lo  que  antes  ardiendo  desseava.^ 

It  is  strange  how  this  lady  of  Lusitania 
came  into  the  lives  of  the  two  great  poets 
of  her  day  in  the  Peninsula,  inspiring  in 
them  a  devotion  which  Hves  on  in  their 
work.     One  cannot  help  wondering  what 
were  her  charms  that  so  enthralled  them, 
if  she  was  as  slender  and  as  golden -haired 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

84 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

as  Garcilaso  has  pictured  her,  if  she  was 
happy  in  her  life  with  Antonio  de  Fonseca 
"el   Gordo,"   when   Garcilaso  left   Toledo 
in  March,  1529. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

85 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  JOURNEY  TO  ITALY 

Charles  V  had  long  been  eager  to  visit 
Italy  to  receive  the  Imperial  crown  at  the 
hands  of  the  Pope,  but  his  Castilian  coun- 
sellors had  been  loath  to    have    him    de- 
part before  the  birth  of  an  heir  to  the 
throne.     That  hope  had  been  realized  in 
the  birth  of  Philip  at  ValladoHd  in  1527. 
Early  in  1529  the  Emperor  determined  to 
leave   Spain,  for  the  activity  of  the   Lu- 
therans in  Germany  and  the  menace  of  the 
Turks  in  Hungary  made  his  personal  pres- 
ence a  necessity  for  the  preservation   of 
the    Empire.      The    Court    started    from 
Toledo   on   the    9th    of    March;     after   a 
month   in    Saragossa,   they   reached   Bar- 
celona at  the  end  of  April. ^    Three  months 
passed  before  the  fleet  was  ready  to  sail, 
for  new  ships  were  necessary  to  supple- 
ment those  that  the  Emperor  had  already 
assembled  and  those  that  Andrea   Doria 
brought  to  the  city  in  June.    At  last,  how- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

86 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

ever,   the   arrangements  were   completed; 
the  flower  of  the  nobility  and  the  clergy 
of   Spain,   several  thousand  infantry  and 
endless  equipment  and  supplies  were  em- 
barked.i 

Two  days  before  the  fleet  set  sail,  Gar- 
cilaso  drew  up  his  last  will  and  testament, 
signed  before  a  notary  public  on  July  25, 
1529.2    The  witnesses  to  his  signature  were 
his  brother,  Pedro  Laso,  his  friend,  Juan 
Boscan,  his  servant  Alonso  de  Salazar  and 
several  others.     The  document,  which  has 
happily  been  discovered  and  published  by 
the   Marquis  of   Laurencin,   is  invaluable 
in  the  glimpse  that  it  offers  of  Garcilaso's 
life,  for  it  contains  a  memorial,  drawn  up 
by  Garcilaso  himself,  containing  his  per- 
sonal  disposition   of  his   estate.      By   his 
will,  he  named  as  his  heir  his  son,  Garcilaso 
de  la  Vega,  granting  him  the  usual  third 
and  fifth  of  the  residue  of  his  property  and 
providing    with    the    customary    formulae 
for  its  transmission  through  the  male  line. 
In  the  event  of  his  death  he  named  his 
other  sons,  Ifiigo  de  Zuniga  and  Pedro  de 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

87 

Guzman    and    any    possible    posthumous 
offspring  as  successive  heirs;    if  none  of 
of    his    children    survived,    his    brother's 
oldest   son,    also   named   Garcilaso   de   la 
Vega,  was  to  inherit  the  estate.    The  most 
interesting  portion  of  the  docvunent  is  that 
in  which  he  provided  for  his  personal  obli- 
gations.     After    the    usual    provision    for 
masses  for  the  repose  of  his  soul  and  for 
relief  for  the  orphans  and  needy  —  really 
needy,   not  beggars,   he  stipulates,  —  he 
orders  that  his  body  shall  be  buried  in  his 
grandmother's  chapel  in  the  church  of  San 
Pedro  Martir,!  unless  he  dies  abroad,  in 
which  case  they  shall  leave  him  wherever 
he  is  buried.    He  also  gives  specific  orders 
that  invitations  to  his  fimeral  shall  not 
be  sent  out  and  that  no  funeral  sermon 
shall  be  delivered.     His  next  thought  is 
for    his    illegitimate    son,    Don    Lorenzo, 
whom    he    wishes    to  be    trained   in    the 
humanities  at  some  good  university,  that 
he  may  enter  the  Chiu-ch,  if  he  shows  an 
inclination   for   this    career,    or   else   may 
enter  the  law.     There  follows  a  list  of  his 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

88 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

debts  at  the  time.     It  is  a  strange  succes- 
sion of  obligations:   money  borrowed  from 
friend  and  servants;  money  borrowed  from 
money  lenders  on  the  security  of  his  wife's 
diamonds     or     his     mother's     silverware; 
money  due  to  tradesmen  and  even  to  his 
barber.    As  the  Marquis  of  Laurencin  has 
pointed    out,    Garcilaso's   financial    condi- 
tion is  typical  of  his  time;    the  Emperor 
was  not   prompt   in  the   payment   of  his 
gentlemen's  salaries:    Garcilaso  notes  that 
at  the  date  of  signing  his  will  his  wages 
are  some   200  ducats  in  arrears.     But  it 
betokens  how  precarious  was  the  financial 
situation  of  his  generation,  when  life  was 
conducted  on  credit. 

Several  of  the  items  for  which  Garcilaso 
provides   show  how   scrupulous   he   must 
have  been  in  his  sense  of  honor.    Thus  he 
sets  aside  ten  ducats  to  compensate  a  cer- 
tain Martin  of  Navarre  for  a  horse  which 
was  taken  from  him  by  the  French  as  a 
result  of  some  fault  of  Garcilaso's;    and 
since  it  is  impracticable  to  pay  him  the 
money,  he  suggests  that  the  sum  be  ex- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

89 

pended  for  some  pious  purpose,  or  given 
to  a  sister  of  his  page,   Sacedo,  who  had 
died.      Similarly  he  provided  for  restitu- 
tion for  damage  he  has  caused,  actual  or 
possible,  during  the  campaigns  of   Salva- 
tierra  and  Fuenterrabia.     The  most  inter- 
esting, and  amusing,  of  these  special  be- 
quests  is   one   which   concerns   a   certain 
Elvira;  it  is  worth  giving  in  his  own  words: 
"I  think  that  I  am  under  obligations  to  a 
girl  for  her  honor;     her  name  is  Elvira,  I 
think  that  she  lives  in  La  Torre  or  Almen- 
dral,  towns  in  Extremadura.    My  brother, 
Don    Francisco,    or    Bariana,     who    was 
formerly  chatelain  of  Los  Arcos  or  his  wife, 
Parra,  know  her;   they  will  say  who  she  is; 
send  some  honest,  reliable  person  there  to 
find  out  from  her.  whether  I  am  under  the 
aforesaid  obligation,  and  if  it  proves  to  be 
that  I  am,  give  her  10,000  maravedis;   and 
if  she  is  married,  great  care  must  be  exer- 
cised in  the  matter  lest  her  honor  be  af- 
fected and  she  be  endangered." 

It  is  plain  that  Garcilaso  did  not  count 
Elvira's  honor  dear;   the  sum  he  offers  her 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

90 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

was  a  mere  trifle,  perhaps  150  pesetas  in 
our  own  day,  for  he  left  his  barber,  Juan 
de  Madrid,  4,000  maravedis  to  pay  for  the 
few   times   he   had    shaved   him   without 
receiving  his  pay.     But  his  solicitude  for 
her  welfare  and  his  readiness  to  assume  the 
obligation  cannot  fail  to  add  to  our  respect 
for  him  and  for  his  sense  of  personal  honor. 
If  he  showed  such  concern  for  this  country 
girl,  merely  upon  suspicion  of  his  obliga- 
tion, we  may  feel  sure  that  he  had  already 
made  liberal  provision  for  the  mother  of 
Don  Lorenzo,  whoever  she  may  have  been. 
It  was  the  27th  of  July  when  the  fleet 
of  Charles  V  sailed  from  Barcelona,  some 
thirty  galleons,  with  carracks  and  lighter 
craft  making  about  a  hundred  ships. ^     It 
was  the  first  event  in  the  reign  of  the  Em- 
peror when  his  Spanish  subjects  had  had 
the  opportunity  of  displaying  their  dignity 
to  the  rest  of  Europe;   they  had  gathered 
in  unusual  numbers,   so  that  there   were 
said  to  have  been  no  less  than  five  thousand 
nobles  in  the  company.     Sandoval  relates 
that  on  the  eve  of  his  embarcation,  Charles 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

91 

V  had  been  forced  to  cut  off  his  long  hair, 
because  he  was  suffering  from  some  affec- 
tion of  the  scalp,  and  that  the  whole  Court 
was  forced  to   follow  his  example. ^     He 
does  not  tell  us  whether  Garcilaso  was  one 
of  those  who  wept  at  this  Imperial  mandate. 
But  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  from  this 
time  on  closely  cropped  heads  became  the 
fashion.    It  is  apparently  at  this  time  that 
the  habit  of  wearing  a  beard  was  intro- 
duced into   Spain,   for  in  the  portrait  of 
the   Emperor   which   is   found   in   a   con- 
temporary   print  2  he    is    represented    as 
wearing  a  scraggly  beard  and  all  of  his  later 
portraits  as  well  as  those  of  his   Spanish 
contemporaries   show  that  the  beard  had 
become  the  rule.  Garcilaso's  mention  of  the 
barber  who  shaved  him  makes  it  plain  that 
he,  at  least,  had  not  up  to  this  time  worn 
a  beard;  the  only  likeness  which  we  have 
of  him,  made  after   his  death,   is  heavily 
bearded;  so  that  we  may  reasonably  assume 
that  this  is  the  moment,  when  so  far  as 
facial  ornament  is  concerned,  the  Middle 
Ages  gave  place  to  the  Renaissance  in  Spain. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

92 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Following  the  coast,  the  fleet  reached 
Genoa  on  August  i2th.i  In  the  city 
of  Doria  they  were  accorded  an  enthusi- 
astic reception;  such  was  the  press  of 
citizens  which  thronged  to  the  pier  to  wit- 
ness them  disembarking  that  many  were 
drowned.  It  had  been  the  intention  of  the 
Emperor  to  proceed  to  Naples  and,  up- 
on his  return  to  Rome,  to  receive  the 
Imperial  crown  from  the  Pope,  with  whom 
he  had  just  concluded  a  peace  (Barcelona, 
June  29,  1 5 29). 2  But  before  he  left  Pia- 
cenza  he  received  from  his  brother  Fer- 
dinand, king  of  Hungary,  messages  inform- 
ing him  of  the  invasion  of  the  kingdom  by 
the  Turks  and  urging  his  immediate  assist- 
ance.'' Under  these,  circumstances  Charles 
V  determined  to  postpone  his  visit  to  his 
Neapolitan  possessions  and  arranged  with 
Clement  VII  to  have  the  ceremonial  of 
the  coronation  performed  at  Bologna.  The 
Pope  reached  there  on  October  24th  and 
on  the  5th  of  November  Charles  entered 
the  city.^ 

The  task  of  settling  the  affairs  of  Italy 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

93 

proved  to  be  a  long  and  difficult  one.     But 
not  all  the  time  was  spent  in  these  arduous 
diplomatic   negotiations.      The   nobles   of 
the  Court  found  ample  time  to  enjoy  the 
hospitality  of  the  city  and  in  turn  to  enter- 
tain their  hosts;    thus  on  December  12th 
the  Spaniards  revealed  to  Italian  eyes  for 
the  first  time  the  splendor  and  the  prowess 
of  their  native  j  lie  go  de  cafias,  dazzling  the 
assembled    throng    of    ambassadors    with 
their  dashing  evolutions  and  their  gaudy 
costumes  of  yellow,   crimson   and  black. ^ 
These  months  must  have  proved  a  period 
of   revelation    to    Garcilaso.      There   had 
gathered    in    Bologna    representatives    of 
every  state  in  Italy,  among  them  its  intel- 
lectual as  well  as  its  political  leaders.    For 
the  first  time  he  was  able  to  familiarize 
himself  with  the  Tuscan  tongue  and  what 
is  of  far  greater  importance,  with  Tuscan 
literature,   of  which  he  had  already  had 
some  glimpse  through  Navagero  and  Cas- 
tigiione.    It  is  undoubtedly  to  the  stimulus 
of  this  visit  in  Italy  that  we  owe  his  con- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

94 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

version  to  the  Italian  style;   its  fruits  will 
soon  be  evident. 

When    the    conflicting    claims    of    each 
Italian  community  had  at  last  been  ad- 
justed, when  Milanese,  Venetians,  and  the 
Papacy  had  been  alligned  in  a  new  adjust- 
ment, with  only  the  seething  question  of 
Florence  left  to  disturb  the  balance,  the 
Emperor  hastened  to  complete  his  Italian 
tour  by  assuming  the  visible  symbol  of  his 
power,  the  Imperial  crown.     On  February 
22nd   the   iron   crown   of   Lombardy  was 
placed  upon  his  head.^     Two  days  later, 
upon  his  thirtieth  birthday,  he  was  crowned 
with   the   crown   of   Charlemagne   in   the 
Cathedral  of  San  Petronio.^    The  splendor 
of  the  ceremony  surpassed  that  of  any  of 
his  pre\^ous  public  appearances.     And  it 
is  noteworthy  that   those   who   bore   the 
chief  part  in  the  various  acts  were,  with 
a  few  exceptions,   his   Spanish   courtiers. 
Among  these  Pedro  de  Toledo,  who  acted 
as  the  representative  of  the  house  of  the 
Dukes  of  Alba  during  the  Imperial  visita- 
tion, was  one  of  the  most  distinguished. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

95 

It  was  he  who  held  the  scabbard  of  the 
sword,  at  the  ceremony  on  February  20th 
while  the  Pope  presented  the  blade  to  the 
Emperor;  ^    in  the  solemn  procession  which 
concluded  the  ceremony  of  the  Imperial 
coronation  he  rode  beside  Andrea  Doria 
almost  at  the  head  of  the  line. 2    We  may 
fancy  that  Garcilaso  was  nimibered  among 
the  knights  who  rode  behind  him,  so  gal- 
lantly arrayed  in  crimson  velvet  caps  and 
cloaks. 

It  was  almost  a  month  before  Charles 
V  left  Bologna  for  Germany.    The  greater 
part   of  his   Spanish   followers  had  been 
granted    permission    to    return    to    their 
homes;    their  presence  would  have  been 
more  of  a  detriment  than  an  assistance  in 
settling  the  religious  problems  w!iich  faced 
him  beyond  the  Alps.    At  Mantua,  on  the 
17th  of  iVpril  before  his  departure  for  Inns- 
bruck, he  issued  an  order  granting  Gar- 
cilaso release  from  service  in  his  household, 
with  an  annuity  of  80,000  maravedis  and 
the  privilege  of  returning  to  Spain. ^      The 
cedilla  which  accords  this  permission  men- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

96 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tions  Garcilaso's  services  in  "esta  Jornada 
de  Italia,"  which  Fernandez  de  Navarrete 
has  assumed  refers  to  service  in  the  cam- 
paign  against   Florence. ^     There  is   little 
warrant    for   this    assumption;     the    siege 
of  Florence  was  not  ended  until  after  the 
departure  of  the  Emperor  from  Italy  and 
if  Garcilaso  took  part  in  it  he  must  have 
been  temporarily  detached  from  the  service 
of  the  Court  for  this  purpose,  an  arrange- 
ment which  was  most  unlikely  at  a  time 
when  ceremonial  was  so  important.     It  is 
probably  merely  a  misinterpretation  of  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "Jornada,"  which  may 
quite  as  well  mean  "royal  visit"  as  "cam- 
paign."    For  the  first  time  in  ten  years, 
Garcilaso  was  free  to  pursue  his  own  in- 
terests;   one  wonders  whether  he  had  to 
wait  many  days  at  Genoa  for  a  ship  to 
bear  him  back  to  Spain. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

97 

CHAPTER  IX 

A  MISSION  IN  FRANCE 

The  rest  from  service  which  he  had  prom- 
ised himself  was  not  destined  to  be  long. 
There  are  certain  burdens  incident  to  pop- 
ularity; within  a  few  months  the  Empress 
remembered  that  he  was  exactly  the  man 
to  fulfill  for  her  a  mission  requiring  some 
address  and  tact.     While  Charles  V  was 
on  his  way  to  Italy,  he  had  received  at 
Savona  the  news  that  his  aunt,  Marguerite, 
and  the   Dowager  Queen  of  France  had 
signed    a    peace    treaty    at    Cambray    on 
August  5th.i     One  of  the  stipulations  of 
this  treaty,  renewing  those  of  the  treaty 
of  Madrid  of  four  years  before,  provided 
for  the  completion  of  the  projected  mar- 
riage between  Francis  I   and  Eleanor  of 
Austria.     The  sovereigns  concerned  hav- 
ing ratified  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  Eleanor 
had  once  more  started  for  France  together 
with  the  two  French  Princes  who  had  been 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

L 


98 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

held  during  these  years  as  hostages.  Elabo- 
rate precautions  were  taken  by  both  the 
French  and  the  Spaniards  to  insure  that 
there  be  no  trickery  in  meeting  the  terms 
of  the  transfer.     Every  ducat  which  the 
French  envoys  offered  in  payment  of  the 
sum  which  Francis  I  had  agreed  to  give 
was  weighed  and  tested  by  specialists  be- 
fore the  Spaniards  would  allow  the  little 
boat   which   carried   the   Queen   and   the 
Princes  to  cross  the  Bidasoa  to  the  French 
shore.     It  was  late  at  night  on   July   i, 
1530  before  they  were  on  French  soil;   on 
the  following  day,  accompanied  by  Anne 
de    Montmorency,    Marshall    of    France, 
they  entered   Bayonne.     Francis   I,   who 
had  come  to  Bordeaux  to  await  them,  now 
started  to  meet  the  company.     On   July 
7th,  he  was  married  to  Dona  Eleanor  at 
the  Abbay  of  B  eyries  near  Mont-de-Mar- 
san.    Five  days  later  the  royal  couple  and 
the   young   princes   were   enthusiastically 
welcomed  in  Bordeaux. ^ 

Queen  Eleanor  was  deeply  gratified  at 
the  cordiality  of  her  reception  and  at  the 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

99 

tenderness  of  her  royal  husband;    her  let- 
ters to  her  brother  and  to  her  sister-in-law- 
revealed  her  satisfaction.  1     Charles  V  was 
himself  none  the  less  pleased;    from  Augs- 
burg he  wrote  to  his  wife  on   July  31st, 
telling  her  the  good  new^s  and  urging  that 
a  messenger  be  sent  at  once  to  congratu- 
late the  new  Queen.  ^    It  was  then  that  the 
Empress  thought  of  Garcilaso.    Her  choice 
was  a  happy  one,  as  Fernandez  de  Navar- 
rete  has  remarked,  for  Garcilaso  must  have 
been   on   terms   of  intimacy   with   Queen 
Eleanor,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  the 
circumstance  that  his  w4fe  had  been  one 
of  her  ladies-in-waiting.     On  August  i6th 
she  wrote  to  the  Emperor  that  she  had 
arranged  to  send   Garcilaso  to  visit  her, 
adding,  with  a  shrewdness  which  character- 
ized  most    of   her   actions    (this   part   in 
cipher),  that  this  w^ould  furthermore  be  an 
excellent  opportunity  to  secure  from  the 
Imperial    ambassadors    information    con- 
cerning the  status  quo  in  France  and  also, 
in  passing,   to   observe   what   steps   were 
being  taken  along  the   frontier,   however 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

100 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

distant  might  be  the  prospect  of  war.^    To 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  trip,  five  hun- 
dred ducats  were  promptly  granted  (Aug- 
ust 2ist)  and  Garcilaso  started  on  his  first 
diplomatic  mission. 

We  do  not  know  whether  he  proved  him- 
self a  worthy  son  of  his  father  as  the  repre- 
sentative  of  his  sovereign;    the   contem- 
porary records  of  his  own  country  and  of 
France  are  silent  on  the  details  of  this 
visit.     Francis  I  and  his  bride,   together 
with  their  Court  had  started  for  Paris,  by 
way  of  the  valley  of  the  Loire.    They  had 
made  their  royal  entry  into  Angouleme  on 
July     24th  ;2      passing    through     Cognac, 
Saint  Jean  d'Angely  and  Chenonceau  they 
reached  the  chateau  of  Amboise  at  the  end 
of  September  and  there  spent  the  month 
of  October.    The  first  weeks  of  November 
they  were  at  the  chateau  of  Blois ;  then  by 
easy  stages  they  journeyed  to  Chambord 
and    Orleans,   arriving    at   Fontainebleau 
early  in  December.     Garcilaso  must  have 
overtaken  the  Court  before  they  reached 
Amboise   and  he  no  doubt   accompanied 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

101 

them  at  least  for  a  time.     It  would  be  in- 
teresting to  have  some  account  of  the  im- 
pressions which  this  visit  must  have  made 
on  the  young  Spaniard.    Francis  I  was  an 
enthusiastic  patron  of  the  arts  and  he  had 
surroimded   himself   with    a    company    of 
Italians  who  were  engaged  in  the  creation 
of  works  of  beauty  for  his  delight.     It  is 
possible  that  Garcilaso  met  at  this  time 
Luigi  Alamanni,  the  Florentine  poet  who 
had    a    second    time    taken    refuge    with 
Francis  I,  joining  the  Court  at  Angouleme 
on  July  3oth.i     At  least  we  may  be  sure 
that  the  culture  and  the  love  of  letters 
which  marked  that  Court  stirred  deeply 
the  Toledan  visitor  who  had  already  be- 
gun to  feel  the  power  of  the  current  of 
Italian  learning  and  artistic  progress. 

Early  in  1531  Garcilaso  must  have  been 
back  in  Spain,  bearing  the  reports  desired 
by  the  Empress.    On  April  1 7th  he  was  in 
Toledo,    and   signed   his    consent    to   the 
transfer  of  the  estate  of  Los  Arcos  to  his 
brother  Pedro  Laso.^    This  property,  which 
had  been  seized  by  the  Emperor  as  a  result 

- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

102 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

of  Don  Pedro's  resistance,  had  been  bought 
back  by  his  mother  for  the  sum  of  6,000 
ducats,  who  now  proceeded  to  restore  it 
to  him  as   a  portion  of  his  inheritance. 
Fernandez  de  Navarrete  states  that  Gar- 
cilaso  was  in  Italy  in  1531,^  but  this  state- 
ment is  based  once  more  upon  a  misinter- 
pretation  of   the   word    "Jornada."      The 
authority  upon  which  he  relies  says  merely, 
"In  1 53 1  it  appears  that  he  was  in  the 
'Jornada  de  Italia'  and  requests  an  office 
in  Toledo."^      This  plainly  refers  to  his 
part  in  the  Imperial  visit;   he  is  basing  his 
claim  for  appointment  upon  the  services 
which  he  then  rendered.     Whether  he  re- 
ceived this  office  or  not,  we  do  not  know. 
But  in  August  of  the  same  year  he  was  in 
Avila,  acting  as  a  witness  at  the  betrothal 
of  his  nephew,  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  to 
Dofla  Isabel  de  la  Cueva,  daughter  of  Juan 
de  la  Cueva  and  Dofia  Mencia  de  Bazan 
and  heiress  to  the  duchy  of  Alburquerque. 
He  was  soon  to  have  cause  to  rue  his  share 
in  this  alliance. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

103 

CHAPTER  X 
niPERIAL  DISFAVOR 

Charles  V  spent  the  year  1531  in  Fland- 
ers.    At  the  end  of  the  year  he  received 
from    his    brother    Ferdinand    news    that 
filled  him  with  misgiving:   the  Turks  were 
again  preparing  to  invade  Austria.    He  at 
once  dispatched  messages  to  his  several 
possessions   calling  upon  them  for   assis- 
tance in  this  war  against  the  Infidels. ^   His 
letter  to  the  Empress  reached  Spain  late 
in  January.     Almost  the  first  to  answer 
the  call  was  Fernan  Alvarez  de   Toledo 
who  had  just  inherited  the  duchy  of  Alba 
by  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  Fadrique 
de  Toledo,  in  September,  1531;-  with  Gar- 
cilaso    among    his    followers    he    at    once 
started  to  join  the  Emperor  at  Bruxelles. 
They  had  reached  the  little  Basque  town 
of  Tolosa  in  Guipuzcoa  on  February  3rd, 
when  there  came  an  unexpected  delay. 

The    Duke    of   Alburquerque    and    the 
other  members  of  the  house  of  Cueva  at 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

104 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


the  Court  of  Charles  V  had  learned  during 
the  summer  of  the  marriage  which  Dona 
Mencia  Bazan  was  arranging  for  her  daugh- 
ter. The  prospect  of  an  alliance  between 
their  family  and  that  of  Pedro  Laso  was 
extremely  distasteful;  it  meant  little  less 
than  ruin,  for  Pedro  Laso,  in  spite  of  his 
pardon,  had  never  recovered  from  the 
stigma  attached  to  his  participation  in 
the  Comunidades.  At  their  instigation, 
Charles  V  had  written  on  September  4th 
to  his  wife  and  to  the  Archbishop  of  San- 
tiago, urging  upon  them  the  need  of  pre- 
venting this  union. ^  But  his  action  was 
too  late,  for  as  we  have  seen,  the  betrothal 
had  taken  place  on  the  14th  of  August. 
Too  late  for  an  ordinary  individual,  but 
not  too  late  for  an  absolute  sovereign.  The 
Empress  discovered  upon  investigation 
that  Garcilaso  had  been  present  at  the 
ceremony  and  on  January  30,  1532  she 
issued  a  general  order  to  the  corregidores 
of  the  realm  to  apprehend  Garcilaso,  where- 
ever  he  might  he  found,  and  secure  from 
him  a  deposition  under  oath  in  answer  to 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND      WORKS 

105 

a   series  of  questions  concerning  his  share 
in  the  ceremony  of  the  betrothal.    At  the 
same  time  she  granted  him  in  the  name  of 
the  Emperor  the  right  to  take  oath  —  a 
privilege  which  all  knights  of  the  Order ^of 
Santiago  must  first  receive  from  the  Grand 
Master.    A  faithful  official  of  Azcoitia,  on 
receipt  of  Her  Majesty's  command,  learn- 
ing that  Garcilaso  would  reach  the  near- 
by town  of  Tolosa  on  February  3rd,  has- 
tened thither  and  found  him  at  the  inn  at 
which  the  Duke  of  Alba  was  staying. 

Informed    of   the    order,    Garcilaso   ex- 
pressed his  willingness  to  answer  the  ques- 
tions.    His  acquaintance  with  the  parties 
involved  and  his  knowledge  that  a  mar- 
riage  had   been    contracted   between   the 
mother   of   Doiia   Isabel  and  his  brother 
he  readily  confessed.     But  regarding    the 
betrothal  his  answers  were  distinctly  eva- 
sive; all  that  he  would  say  was  that  noth- 
ing had  been  done  since  the  arrival  of  the 
Emperor's  orders.    Once  more  questioned 
as  to  whether  there  had  been  a  betrothal 
and  whether  he  had  been  personally  pre- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

106 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

sent,   he   repeated    his    former  irrelevant 
answer.     Thereupon    the    corregidor  pro- 
duced an  order  from  the  Empress   com- 
missioning him  to  hold  Garcilaso  for  further 
instructions,  in  case  he   should   prove   to 
have  had  any  part  in  the  affair.   Garcilaso 
protested  against  this,  arguing  that  noth- 
ing had  been  proved  and  that  he  must  be 
about  the  King's   business.     But   the   co- 
rregidor   was   a   trustworthy    servant;   he 
would  lend  no  ear  to  his  quibbles,  alleging 
that  his  reputation   as   an  examiner  was 
at  stake. 

The  Empress  was  highly  indignant  at 
Garci'aso's   refusal   to   answer   her    ques- 
tions and  suspecting  that  he  had  acted 
thus   because   of   a   consciousness   of   the 
moral  support  of  the  Duke  of  Alba,  called 
the  latter  sharply  to  task  in  her  letter  to 
the  corregidor.     In  this  letter  she  bade  her 
official  once  more  to  put  the  questions  di- 
rectly to  Garcilaso  and  if  he  should  admit 
to  any  share  in  the  affair,  to  exile  him 
from  the  realm  and  from  the  Emperor's 
Court,  under  penalty  of  loss  of  title  and 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

107 

estate.     In  case  he  should  have  the  pre- 
sumption still  to  refuse  specific  answers  to 
her    specific    questions   —  an    inconceiv- 
able disobedience  — ,  he  was  to  be  placed 
under  arrest  and  sent  to  the  fortress  of 
Salvatierra.       Garcilaso,     who     perceived 
that  his  device  for  escaping  from   Spain 
was  unsuccessful,  now  deposed  that  thus 
far  he  had  spoken  the  truth,  but  not  the 
whole    truth;     what    remained    w^as    this. 
Some  time  in  August  of  the  preceding  year 
one  day  after  dinner  —  just  what  day  of 
the  month  he  could  not  recall  —  a  page 
had  come  to  the  house  where  he  was  in 
Avila  and  told  him  that  somebody  wanted 
him.     And  so  he  went  to  the  Cathedral 
and  there,  in  the  cloister,  he  found  Dona 
Isabel  accompanied  by  her  duena,  his  own 
nephew,   a  priest,   and  two  men,   named 
Simancas  and  Fonseca.     He  was  of  the 
opinion    that    afterward    in    one    of    the 
chapels.  Dona  Isabel  and  his  nephew  had 
taken  hands  before  the  priest.    Upon  closer 
questioning  he  deposed  that  the  diiena's 
name  was  jMaria  de  Olio  and  that  of  the 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

108 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

two    men,    Simancas    was    his    nephew's 
tutor   and   Fonseca,    a   servant    of    Dona 
Mencia;     that   he   was   certain   that   the 
couple  held  hands;   that  he  did  not  know 
the  name  of  the  priest;    that  no  one  else 
was  present.     After  this  tardy  confession 
had   been    dragged   from   him,    Garcilaso 
once  more  volunteered  the  information  that 
nothing  had  been  done  since  the  arrival  of 
the  Emperor's  order.     The   corregidor  at 
once  pronounced    sentence  of  banishment, 
in  accordance  with  his  instructions. 

Garcilaso 's   role   during   this   investiga- 
tion does  not  reflect  greatly  to  his  credit. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  was 
doubtlessly   honest   in   his   assertion   that 
his  own  share  in  the  affair  was  over  before 
he   was   aware   of   the   Emperor's   disap- 
proval and  that  he  had  at  no  time  acted 
in  defiance  of  his  commands.     We  must 
remember,  too,  —  as  he  no  doubt  remem- 
bered, —  that   the   Emperor   was   unfor- 
giving when  he  was  once  offended  and  he 
naturally  was  loath  to  make  any  admission 
which  would  bring  down  upon  him  the  dis- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

109 

pleasure  which  his  brother  had  so  long  suf- 
fered.   Finally  there  can  be  little  question 
that  his  course  was  the  result  of  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  Duke  of  Alba,  for  as  soon 
as  his  sentence  was  pronounced  the  latter 
wrote  to  the  Empress,  asking  her  to  re- 
lease Garcilaso  from  his  penalty  and  de- 
claring   that    he    would    not    proceed    to 
Flanders   without   him.      In   the   face   of 
Isabella's  refusal  to  grant  his  request,  he 
took  the  matter  into  his  own  hands;   with 
Garcilaso  in  his  suite  he  started  across  the 
Pyrenees. 

Of  this  journey  Garcilaso  has  left  a  des- 
cription in  a  passage  of  the  second  Eclogue, 
beginning 

Los  montes  Pireneos.  .  . 

en  medio  del  invierno  atravesava.^ 

Once  through  the  difficulties  of  winter  in 
the  mountain   passes,   Fernando  received 
orders  from  the   Emperor  to  hasten  his 
steps.     Leaving  the  rest  of  his  company 
to  follow  at  a  slower  pace,  he  and  Gar- 
cilaso hurried  north,  changing  horses  from 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

no 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

town  to  town.     At  Paris  the  Duke  was 
detained  by  a  brief  illness.     His  recovery 
was  prompt  and  they  pushed  on.     When 
they  reached  Flanders,  the  Emperor  and 
his  Court  had  already  started  for  Ratis- 
bonne.      Apparently    they    continued    to 
Utrecht  (Traiectum  ad  Rhenum)  for  Gar- 
cilaso  writes  that  their  journey  brought 
them  "al  pasaje  del  gran  Rheno."     It  is 
interesting  that  his  first   glimpse   of  the 
Rhine  recalled  to  his  mind  the  passage  in 
Caesar  which  he  had  learned  as  a  boy  and 
he  fancied  that  it  was  here  that  the  Roman 
leader  had  crossed  into  German  territory. 
From  Utrecht  they  took  passage  by  boat 
up  the  Rhine  to  Cologne.    There  Garcilaso 
seems  to  have  seen  the  old  pictures  in  the 
church  of  St.  Ursula,  for  he  writes, 

Ursula,  desposada  y  virgen  pura, 
mostrava  su  figura,  en  una  pieya 
pintada  su  cabe^a.   AUi  se  via 
que  los  ojos  bolvia  ya  espirando 
y  estavate  mirando  aquel  tirano 
que  con  acerba  mano  llevo  a  hecho 
de  tierno  en  tierno  pccho  tu  compana. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

111 

It  is  not  plain  whether  the  rest  of  their 
trip  ''por  la  fiera  Alemana"  was  made  up 
the  Rhine  or  on  horseback.  The  latter 
part  was  down  the  Danube,  probably  from 
the  town  of  Ulm,  Late  in  March  they 
reached  Ratisbonne. 

Garcilaso's  first  thought  was  to  secure 
restoration  to  the  Emperor's  favor.  His 
friend,  the  Marqms  of  A'illafranca,  whose 
influence  with  Charles  V  was  great,  pre- 
sented to  the  Emperor  a  memorial  from 
Garcilaso,  protesting  against  the  sentence 
passed  upon  him.^  But  the  Empress  had 
informed  her  husband  of  the  circimistances 
of  the  case  and  he  was  little  inclined  tc 
show  mercy.  Orders  were  issued  on  March 
24th  that  Dona  Isabel  should  be  sent  to 
the  convent  of  Madrigal,  that  the  younger 
Garcilaso,  who  had  fled  to  Portugal,  should 
be  prosecuted^  and  that  Garcilaso  the  sup- 
pliant should  be  confined  on  an  island  in 
the  Danube.  Fernandez  de  Navarrete 
has  advanced  the  suggestion^  that  the  is- 
land in  question  was  that  of  Schutt,  near 
Pressburg.     Such  an  opinion  is,  however, 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

112 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

- 

absolutely  untenable.      Pressburg  is  over 
four  hundred  miles  from  Ratisbonne,  and 
Charles  V  remained  in  the  latter  city  un- 
til  the  first   of   September.      It   is  much 
more  natural,   and  easy,  to  believe  that 
his  place  of  confinement  was  one  of  the 
several  islands  in  the  Danube  near  Ratis- 
bonne.    It  was  during  this  imprisonment 
that  Garcilaso  wrote  the  first  of  his  verses 
in  the  Italian  style  to  which  it  is  possible 
to  assign  a  date,  the  Cancion  which  be- 
gins. 

Con  un  manso  ruido 

de  agua  corriente  y  clara 

cerca  el  Danubio  una  isla,  que  pudiera 

ser  lugar  escogido 

para  que  descansara 

quien  como  yo  esto  agora  no  estuviera. 

How  bitter  was  the  disappointment  which 
this    first    evidence    of    Imperial    disfavor 
brought  to  Garcilaso  is  revealed  in  every 
line  of  the  poem  and  not  the  least  of  the 
poignancy  came  from  the  realization  that 
the  fault  was  largely  his  own. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

113 

Aqui  estuve  yo  puesto, 

o  por  mejor  dezillo, 

preso,  foFQado,  y  solo  en  tierra  agena. 

Bien  pueden  hazer  esto 

en  quien  puede  sufrillo 

y  en  quien  el  a  si  mismo  se  condena. 

Here  and  in  several  of  his  sonnets/  which 
were  probably  written  at  the  same  period, 
he  laments  the  sudden  turn  of  Fortune's 
wheel, 

pues  a  sido  en  un  ora 
todo  aquello  deshecho 
en  que  toda  mi  vida  fue  gastada. 

From  this  moment  on,  his  whole  life  was 
spent  in  the  effort  to  recover  his  place  of 
favor  with  the  Emperor. 

Meanwhile  his  friends  had  not  forgotten 
him.     On  the   25th  of   June  the  Council 
issued  an  order,  stating  that  since  he  con- 
fessed his  guilt  and  begged  for  mercy,  he 
should  be  sent  to  a  convent  (presumably 
that  of  his  Order  at  Ucles),  to  Africa,  to 
the  fleet,  to  Naples,  or  should  be  allowed 
to    take    part    in    the    coming    campaign 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

114 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

against  the  Turks,  remaining  in  confine- 
ment until  the  army  started  for  Austria.^ 
At  the  end  of  the  order  His  Majesty  is 
reminded  of  the  insistency  with  which  the 
Duke  of  Alba  urged  this  action.     After 
consultation  the  Imperial  Secretary,  Cobos, 
noted  on  the  margin  that  Naples  or  a  con- 
vent would  be  the  best  solution.     Just  at 
this  juncture,  the  Marquis  of  Villafranca, 
Pedro  de   Toledo,  was  named   Viceroy  of 
Naples  (before  July  nth);   on  August  3rd 
he  left  Ratisbonne  by  post;    a  week  later 
he  was  in  Verona.     The  last  ten  days  of 
August  he  spent  in  Rome  as  a  guest  of  the 
Pope,   Clement  VII.     He  entered   Naples 
on  September  5th. ^ 

Since  the  publication  of  Fernandez  de 
Navarrete's  Life  of  Garcilaso  it  has  been 
generally  accepted  that  the  poet  accom- 
panied Pedro  de  Toledo  at  this  time.^    It 
is  difficult  however  to  determine  with  cer- 
tainty  his   whereabouts   during   the   next 
few  months.     Herrera  states  that  he  took 
part   in   the   campaign   against    Solyman'' 
and    the    early    biographers    followed    his 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


115 


statement.^  The  detailed  description  of 
the  Duke  of  Alba's  part  in  this  campaign 
which  Garcilaso  gives  in  the  second  Ec- 
logue^  lends  some  color  to  this  theory,  but 
we  must  not  give  too  much  weight  to 
this  argument,  for  the  same  process  might 
be  used  to  prove  that  he  was  also  present 
at  the  battle  of  Gelves  in  1510,  of  which 
he  has  left  a  vivid  account  in  the  same  Ec- 
logue. The  situation  is  further  compli- 
cated by  the  fact  that  in  a  Hst  of  Spanish 
gentlemen  who  passed  through  Treviso, 
Italy  on  October  22,  1532,  on  their  way  to 
Venice,  there  appears  immediately  after 
the  name  of  the  Duke  of  Alba  a  certain 
"Don  Gratia  di  Vega."  ^  It  is  of  course 
possible  that  this  Garcia  de  Vega  has  no 
connection  with  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  yet 
seeing  this  name  so  closely  connected  with 
that  of  his  protector,  and  knowing  that 
Diego  de  Toledo  was  also  in  the  company, 
one  is  tempted  to  believe  that  the  Duke 
had  succeeded  in  persuading  the  Emperor 
to  allow  Garcilaso  to  postpone  his  depart- 
ure for  Naples  until  the  end  of  the  cam- 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


116 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

paign.     There  remains  still  another  pos- 
sibility:   the  Duke  may  have  once  more 
ventured     to     disregard     his     sovereign's 
orders  and  retained  Garcilaso  in  his  com- 
pany without  the  Emperor's  knowledge. 
For  this  there  is  some  warrant  in  the  fact 
that  Garcilaso  has  left  unmentioned  pre- 
cisely this  portion  of  the   Duke's  career 
in  the  description  which  we  have  several 
times  referred  to.     If  he  had  accompanied 
him  in  defiance  of  the  Emperor's  orders, 
he  could  ill  afford  to  show  too  intimate  a 
knowledge   of   this   trip   from   Vienna   to 
Italy.    Whatever  conclusion  we  may  draw, 
—  and  the  matter  is  not  a  vital  one,  — 
we  know  that  Garcilaso  was  in  Naples  in 
November,   when  he  bought  a  horse,   or 
rather,  had  a  horse  charged  to  his  account, 
as  a  lieutenant  of  the  Viceroy  of  Naples.^ 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

117 

CHAPTER  XI 

EXILE  IN  NAPLES 

Garcilaso's  exile  in  Naples,  for  his  resi- 
dence there  was  virtually  exile,  brings  us 
to  the  most  important  period  of  his  life. 
His   close   relations   with   the   newly   ap- 
pointed   Viceroy    insured    his    immediate 
admittance  into  the  literary  circle  which 
made  Naples  its  centre ;  the  acquaintances 
which  he  formed  were  to  influence  largely 
the  course  which  his  own  literary  endeavors 
followed  from  this  time.    While  in  general 
the    Neapolitan   Humanists   had   devoted 
most  of  their  efforts  to  attaining  a  mastery 
of  Latin  as  an  instrument  of  artistic  com- 
position, they  had  not  neglected  the  tasks 
of  erudition.     The  Accademia  Pontoniana, 
faithful  to  the  traditions   established  by 
its  founder,  had  continued  to  meet  in  the 
villa  of  Sannazaro.    Since  the  death  of  the 
latter  in   1530,   the  gatherings  had  been 
held  in  the  house  of  Scipione  Capece,  a 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

118 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

learned  lawyer  and  professor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Naples,  whose  Latin  poems,  in 
particular  the  De  principiis  rerum,  found 
favor    in    the    sight    of    Pietro    Bembo.^ 
Among   the   members   of   the   Accademia 
during    Garcilaso's    residence    in    Naples 
were    Antonio    Epicufo,    author    of    the 
Dialogo  di  tre  ciechi,  Bernardino  Martirano, 
Imperial     secretary     at    Naples,   Antonio 
Minturno,  poet  and  critic  of  poetry,  and 
Girolamo    Seripando,   at   the   time   Arch- 
bishop   of    Salerno    and    later    cardinal.^ 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Spanish  poet  was  admitted  to    this   aca- 
demic circle,  if  not  to  its  membership;   at 
least  he  was  on  terms  of  familiarity  with 
its  leader  Capece,  for  three  years  later  he 
dedicated  to  Garcilaso  an  edition  of  the 
commentary  of  Aelius  Claudius  Donatus 
on  the   Aenead,   explaining  that   he  had 
been    persuaded    to    publish    this    manu- 
script, which  had  belonged  to  Pontanus, 
by  the   opinion   of  his  friend,   whom  he 
names  "a  gentleman  and  a  scholar  (illus- 
tris    atquc   doctissime)."  ^    Garcilaso    men- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

119 

tions  Minturno  in  one  of  his  sonnets  ;i   his 
friendship  with    Seripando  is  pictured  in 
a  letter  which  the  Cardinal  wrote  years 
later   to    Placido    di    Sangro,    a    common 
friend  of  both,  recalling  how  they  had  dis- 
cussed together  the  meaning  of  a  passage 
in  Horace. - 

Outside  the  academic  circle,   Garcilaso 
came  into  contact  with  several  other  men 
of    letters    to    whom    he    was    indebted. 
Among    those    who    attached    themselves 
to  the  Court  of  the  new  Viceroy  was  a 
young  poet  from  Venosa,  Luigi  Tansillo, 
already  known  as  the  author  of  a  pastoral 
poem,  /  due  pellegrini.     Although  he  was 
several  years  younger  than  Garcilaso,  he 
seems  to  have  been  in  close  relations  with 
him,  if  we  may  judge  by  a  statement  in 
one  of  his  Capitoli, 

Se  io  vo',  per  sodisfare  al  gusto  vario, 
Parlando  d'ogni  cosa  utile  e  spasso, 
Io  parlero  con  voi,  general  Mario; 
Cosi  soleva  far  con  Garzilasso 
Mentre  con  noi  si  stette  e  non  si  vide 
Fastidito  del  mondo,  non  gia  lasso. ^ 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

120 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


Two  of  his  sonnets  are  addressed  to  Gar- 
cilaso,  and  were  early  quoted  by  Herrera,^ 
and  Garcilaso  refers  to  Tansillo  in  the 
sonnet  already  mentioned.  But  the 
clearest  evidence  of  their  mutual  relations 
is  to  be  found  in  the  study  of  their  poems; 
there  we  shall  find  clear  proof  of  their 
familiarity  with  each  other's  work,  long 
before  these  works  were  published.  There 
are  at  least  two  other  Neapolitan  poets 
whom  Garcilaso  knew:  Bernardo  Tasso 
and  Giulio  Cesare  Caracciolo,  to  whom 
he  addressed  one  of  his  sonnets.  His  re- 
lations with  other  members  of  the  Court  is 
shown  in  his  dedication  of  an  occasional 
sonnet,  as  those  to  Mario  Galeota  and  to 
Maria  di  Cardona,  Marchesana  della 
Padula.2 

From  these  brief  hints,  culled  for  the 
most  from  chance  allusions,  we  may  form 
some  conception  of  the  society  in  which 
Garcilaso  mingled  during  these  years  at 
Naples.  The  Court  that  gathered  about 
Pedro  de  Toledo  was  not  merely  brilliant; 
like  that  of  Francis   I,  it  was  thoroughly 


HI  SPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND      WORKS 

121 

imbued  with  the  passion  for  art  and  we 
may   think   that   under   its   influence   the 
spirit  of  Garcilaso  found  an  opportunity 
to  expand  in  the  direction  dear  to  his  heart. 
Luis  Zapata  has  left  an  interesting  anec- 
dote of  his  stay  in  Naples  which  illustrates 
the  atmiosphere  of  his  associations. ^    "Many 
of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Court  of  Spain," 
he  says,  "were  at  the  house  of  a  distin- 
guished   lady    in    Naples,    where    all    the 
noble  ladies  of  Italy  were  gathered ;  among 
the  gentlemen  was  Garcilaso.    iVnd  at  sun- 
set, which  is  the  time  of  day  when  they 
prefer  to  feed  the  falcons  and  hawks,  and 
also,  between  daylight  and  candlelight,  the 
time  when  it  is  pleasant  to  visit  the  ladies, 
the    servants    officiously   brought    in    the 
candles   very   early;     whereat   the   whole 
company,  both  gentlemen  and  ladies,  was 
greatly    annoyed,    and    the    lady    herself. 
And  she  said,  '0  sorda  e  cieca  gente.'    Gar- 
cilaso at  once  joined  in  with  the  end  of 
the   same   line   of   Petrarch,    'a   cui   si   fa 
notte  innanzi  sera.'  "  {Trionfo  delta  morle, 
I»  38-39)  Garcilaso  however  was  not  con- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

122 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tent  merely  to  discuss  and  to  quote  the 
Latin  and  Tuscan  poets.     Several  of  his 
shorter   poems   must   have   been   written 
early  in  his  stay  at  Naples,  because  they 
breathe  freshly  his  regret  at  his  loss  of 
favor  and  his  impatience  at  his  sentence 
of  exile.  1    To  the  same  period  belongs  also 
his  first  Latin  poem,  the  Ode  ad  Thylesium, 
written   to    celebrate   the   tragedy   Imher 
aureus  of  Antonio  Tilesio,  which  he  had 
read  in  the  edition  of  1529. 

It  is  possible  that  this  first  winter  in 
Naples  brought  to  Garcilaso  news  of  the 
death  of  Isabel  Freire.     Even  though  we 
cannot   establish   the   exact    date   of   her 
death,  we  know  that  it  must  have  occurred 
in  1533  or  1534,  for  there  is  no  reference 
to  it  in  the  poems  which  Garcilaso  wrote 
during  his  confinement  in  Germany  (March- 
August,    1532)   and   Sa  de   Miranda's  ec- 
logue Celia,  which  laments  the  event,  was 
certainly  written  in  '1535-  and  after  the 
composition    of  Garcilaso's  own  first  ec- 
logue, in  which  he  speaks  in  such  moving 
terms  of  her  departure.     Isabel  Freire  had 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

123 

borne  two  children  to  her  husband,  a  son, 
Antonio    de    Fonseca,    and    a    daughter, 
Catalina  de  Fonseca.     She  died  in  giving 
birth  to  her  third  child.  ^     It  is  probable 
that  Garcilaso's  first  eclogue  was  written 
immediately  after  he  had  received  word 
of  her  death  and  the  most  exquisite  of  his 
sonnets,    "0   dulces  prendas  por  mi  mal 
halladas,"  plainly  springs  from  the  same 
inspiration. 

Deep  as  was  Garcilaso's  regret,  life  at 
the   Court   of    Don  Pedro  left  little  time 
for  idle  moping.    His  patron  was  eager  to 
keep  him  before  the  eyes  of  the  Emperor 
and  on  April  i8,   1533  he  sent  him  with 
messages     to     His     Caesarian     Majesty. 
Charles  V,  having  turned  back  the  Turks 
before  Vienna  without  a   battle,   had   re- 
turned to   Italy  to  conclude  a  defensive 
league    with    the    Pope    and    the    Italian 
states.     As  soon  as  this  treaty  had  been 
settled  he  started  for  Spain  by  way  of 
Genoa.     But  when  Garcilaso  reached  the 
port,  the  Emperor  had  already  sailed.    He 
must  have  taken  ship  in  his  wake,  for  he 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

124 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

reached   Barcelona   on   April    26th,   three 
days  after  the  arrival  of  the  Emperor  who 
had  come  overland  from  Rosas  with  the 
Duke  of  Alba.i     In  spite  of  the  official 
character  of  his  visit,  he  found  time  for 
some  personal  matters.     It  was  probably 
at  this  time  that  he  reviewed  with  Boscan 
the  translation  of  //  cortegiano  which  the 
latter  had  made.     In  the  dedicatory  letter 
to  the  first  edition  of  the  Castilian  trans- 
lation,   the   privilege    of   which    is    dated 
December  20,  1533,  Boscan  begins, 2  ''Not 
many  days  ago  Garcilaso  sent  me,  as  Your 
Ladyship    knows,    this    book    called    The 
Courtier,    composed    in    the    language    of 
Italy  by  Count  Baltasar  Castellon."  In  the 
same  edition  there  appeared   a  letter  of 
Garcilaso,  also  addressed  to'  Dofia  Gero- 
nima  Palova  de  Almogavar,  which  gives 
additional  details  as  to  Garcilaso's  share 
in  the  translation. ^    After  explaining  that 
he  had  not  ventured  to  suggest  to  Boscan 
the  desirability  of  translating  Castiglione's 
work,   because   he   knew   of   the   former's 
scorn    for   those   who   turned   books   into 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

125 

Spanish,  he  tells  of  the  satisfaction  which 
he  has  found  in  seeing  so  worthy  a  book 
so    worthily    translated.      And    then,    for 
fear  lest  some  one  else  might  presume  to 
print  a  version,  with  the  perverse  energy 
of  those  who  write  poor  books,  he  urged 
his  friend  to  publish  it  with  all  possible 
speed.     He  himself  read  its  final   proof, 
though  he  modestly  disclaims  any  share  in 
improving  it.  As  this  was  the  only  time  in 
1533  that  Garcilaso  was  in  Spain,  his  con- 
sultation with  Bpscan  must  be  placed  here. 
He  also  found  time  for  a  brief  visit  to 
Toledo,  for  on  the  1 2th  of  May  he  and  his 
brother,  Pedro  Laso,  informed  the  Alcalde 
of  the  death  of  their  brother,  Francisco  de 
la  Vega,  at  Bologna  and  requested  permis- 
sion to  open  his  will.^    But  Garcilaso  was 
the  bearer  of  messages  from  the  Emperor  to 
his  Viceroy  and  he  was  forced  to  hurry  on 
his  way.    He  was  in  Naples  again  by  the 
middle  of   June,^  in  time  to  be  a  witness, 
if  not  a  participator  in  the  splendid  bull- 
fight which  the  Viceroy,  himself  a  prac- 
ticed  toreador,    gave   in   the    Piazza    Car- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

126 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

bonara  at  the  end  of  the  month. ^     In  the 
absence  of  any  evidence,  we  must  assume 
that  the  next  fourteen  months  were  spent 
in  Naples.     Early  in  this  period  must  be 
placed  the  composition  of  the  second  Ec- 
logue, dedicated  to  the  Duke  of  Alba.   Gar- 
cilaso  ends  the  account  of  the  Duke's  ex- 
ploits with  his  arrival  in   Spain  and  his 
reunion  with  his  wife.     As  we  have  seen, 
Don  Fernando  reached  Barcelona  on  April 
23rd  and  the  poet's  failure  to  carry  farther 
the  story  of  his  friend  and  patron  argues 
that  the  poem  must  have  been  written  not 
long  after  that  date. 

At  this  period  of  his  life  there  comes 
into  his  sonnets  a  new  note;  a  new  passion 
had  supplanted  his  former  love.     At  first 
he  struggled  to  resist, 

.  .  .refrenar  este  desseo 
loco,  impossible,  vano,  temeroso; 

then  follows  a  willingness  to  submit,  —  a 
mood  reflected  in  Cancion  IV;    finally  the 
complete  surrender  which  he  confessed  to 
Boscan, 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

127 

Sabed  que  en  mi  perfeta  edad,  y  armado, 
con  mis  ojos  abiertos,  me  he  rendido 
al  Nino  que  sabej's,  ciego  y  desnudo. 

If  the  phrase  "en  mi  perfeta  edad"  is  to 
be  taken  in  its  usual  sense  of  "at  the  crown 
of  life,"  in  other  words,   "at  the  age  of 
thirty-five,"  this  stage  of  his  love  cannot 
have  been  reached  before  1536,  unless  he 
were  bom  before  1501.^    It  is  idle  to  spec- 
ulate who  the  object  of  this  new  desire 
may  have  been;    his  own  answer  remains 
final- 

Si  pregimtado 
soy  lo  que  mas,  en  lo  demas  soy  mudo. 

At  least  this  passion  came  to  occupy  a 
place  of  importance  in  his  Hfe;    the  lines 
with  which  he  refers  to  it  in  his  elegy  to 
Boscan  are  marked  by   a   real   depth   of 
feeling; 

Alii  mi  cora^on  tuvo  su  nido 

un  tiempo  ya;    mas  no  se,  triste,  agora, 

0  si  estara  ocupado  0  desparzido. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS     | 

128 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Jealousy  came,  too,  to  interrupt  the  course 
of  his  affection,  in  fact  this  is  the  prevail- 
ing note  in  the  group  of  sonnets  which 
were  published  for  the  first  time  by  San- 
chez. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

129 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE  EXPEDITION  TO  TUNIS 

The  danger  from  the  Turks  on  the  East 
had  hardly   been   repelled   when   another 
Moslem  cloud  appeared,  this  time  in  the 
South.     Barbarossa,  suddenly  risen  from 
piracy  to  authority,  triumphant  on   land 
and  sea,  had  received  from  the  Sultan  a 
commission  as  admiral  of  the  fleet.    Leav- 
ing   Constantinople,    he    sailed    into    the 
western     Mediterranean,      ravaging      the 
southern  coast  of  Italy  in  August,   1534. 
On  the  15th  of  the  month,  Garcilaso  was 
again    dispatched   to    the    Emperor   with 
verbal  instructions,  to  bear  the  tidings^. 
The  Court  was  then  at  Palencia,  so  that 
it  was  well  into  September  before  he  was 
able  to  deliver  his  urgent  message. ^     On 
the  29th  he  received  the  Emperor's  reply 
and  two  days  later  he  was  on  his  way  back 
to  Naples,  this  time  by  land,  fearing  no 
doubt   the   possibiHty   of   capture   at   the 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

130 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

hands  of  Barbarossa's  fleet.     He  slept  at 
Avignon  on  the  night   of   October   12th, 
one  of  the  many  pilgrims  of  the  sixteenth 
century  to  the  grave  of  Laura. ^   We  owe 
the  date  to  the  closing  lines  of  his  Epistle 
to    Boscan,    his    only    attempt    at    blank 
verse; 

Digo  que  vine,  quanto  a  lo  primero 
tan  sano  como  aquel  que  en  doze  dias 
lo  que  solo  vereys  a  caminado                   , 
quando  el  fin  de  la  carta  os  lo  mostrare. . . 
doze  del  mes  de  Otubre,  de  la  tierra 
do  nacio  el  claro  fuego  del  Petrarca 
y  donde  estan  del  fuego  las  cenizas. 

Before   Garcilaso   had    left    Spain,    the 
Viceroy  of  Naples  had  written  again  to 
Charles  V  (September  15),  informing  him 
of  the  death  of  the  chatelain  of  Reggio 
(Rijoles)    and    requesting    that    Garcilaso 
be  appointed  in  his  place.^    Since  he  knew 
that  the  Emperor  never  forgot  an  offense, 
he  admitted  Garcilaso 's  past  misdemeanors, 
but  at  the  same  time  called  his  attention 
to  the  signal  services  which  he  had  per- 
formed and  the  desirability  of  his  having 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  131 


his  wife  come  to  Italy  and  settle  down 
with  him.  Despite  the  earnestness  of  his 
appeal,  we  must  infer  that  the  Emperor 
was  not  moved,  for  Garcilaso  never  re- 
ceived the  appointment.  Again  in  the 
following  winter  Charles  V  showed  his 
obduracy.  It  seems  that  since  Garcilaso's 
banishment,  the  Mesta,  (a  powerful  or- 
ganization of  cattle-owners  which  control- 
led the  industry  in  Spain)  had  refused  to 
pay  to  him  the  income  from  the  montazgo 
of  Badajoz  which  his  father  had  willed  to 
him.  Garcilaso  had  brought  suit  against 
the  Mesta  in  the  Chancery  of  Granada  to 
recover  this  incom^e,  amounting  to  85,000 
maravedis  a  year.  As  he  found  it  difficult 
to  prosecute  the  case  in  his  absence,  he 
induced  the  Viceroy  to  write  to  the  Em- 
peror, begging  him  to  grant  a  suspension, 
until  such  time  as  Garcilaso  should  return. 
The  Emperor's  reply  was  curt:  "As  for 
your  request  that  we  order  a  case  which 
Garcilaso  has  in  the  court  of  Granada  to 
be  postponed,  you  are  aware  that  we  are 
not  accustomed  to  postpone  such  matters. 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


132 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

nor  is  it  consonant  with  the  administra- 
tion of   justice."!     He  had  neither  forgot- 
ten nor  forgiven  Garcilaso's  share  in  the 
affair  at  Avila. 

In  the  autumn  of  1534  Charles  V  an- 
nounced  his    determination   to   take   the 
field  in  force  against  Barbarossa  and  to 
thwart  his  pretensions  to  Tunis,  the  occu- 
pation of  which  by  the  Turks  was  a  con- 
stant menace  to   Christian  trade  in  the 
western  Mediterranean.    During  the  winter 
the    ship-yards    and    arsenals    of    Naples 
were  busy  with  the  preparations  for  this 
expedition. 2   On  May  17th  of  the  following 
year  the  fleet  sailed  for  Cagliari  in  Sar- 
dinia, the  place  appointed  as  the  rendez- 
vous for  the  Imperial  forces,  stopping  at 
Palermo  to  pick  up  the  Sicilian  contingent. ^ 
Although  the  Viceroy  did  not  take  part 
in  this  expedition,  he  sent  his  two  sons, 
Don  Fadrique  and  Don  Garcia;  with  them 
went  the  leaders  of  the  Spanish  and  Nea- 
politan nobility  of  his  Court,  among  the 
number,   Garcilaso.       They    reached    Ca- 
gliari early  in   June  before  the  arrival  of 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

133 

the  Emperor.    A  considerable  armada  had 
gathered,    comprising    detachments    from 
all  the   Imperial   possessions  and  a  fleet 
under  Andrea  Doria.    They  reached  Carth- 
age on  June   i6th  and  the  Emperor  im- 
mediately proceeded  to  invest  Goleta,  a 
stronghold  into  which  Barbarossa,  realiz- 
ing the  weakness  of  the  defenses  of  Tunis, 
had  thrown  some  fifty  thousand  men.^    In 
spite  of  the  Emperor's  command,  many 
of  the   gentlemen  of  his   following  reck- 
lessly entered  into  the  skirmishes  around 
the  fort.     In  one  of  these  encounters  on 
June  22nd,  a  certain  Pedro  Suarez,  stung 
by   the   taimts   of   Alonso   de   la    Cuevd, 
started  forth  alone  to  give  battle  to  the 
enemy  and  although  he  was  several  times 
in  dire  peril  and  rescued  by  his  friends, 
each  time  he  returned  to  the  strife.     At 
last  he  was  mortally  wounded  and  even 
Alonso  de  la  Cueva,  who  had  gone  out  to 
aid  him,  was  in  danger,  when  the  timely 
assistance  of  Garcilaso  saved  him.     The 
poet  was  wounded  in  the  face  and  arm, 
Sandoval    tells    us,    but    not    seriously. ^ 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

134 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Paolo  Giovio  in  his  account  of  the  cam- 
paign tells  a  different  story  of  the  circum- 
stances in  which  Garcilaso  was  wounded; 
he  was  surrounded  by  a  group  of  Arabs 
and  wounded  but  was  rescued  by  a  Nea- 
politan gentleman,  Federico  Carrafa.^   One 
of  the  poet's  own  sonnets,  addressed  to 
Mario  Galeota,  corroborates  the  truth  of 
their  accounts,  for  he  says, 

Y  ansi  en  la  parte  que  la  diestra  mano 
govierna  y  en  aquella.que  declara 
los  concetos  del  alma  fuy  herido. 

We  should  be  inclined  to  suspect  that  the 
versions   of   the   historians   were   written 
apres  coup  to  explain  the  reference  of  the 
poem,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  in  a 
letter   of   Enrique   Enriquez   de    Guzman 
written  to  his  father  the  Count  of  Alba  on 
June  2  2nd,2  he  states  expHcitly,  "The  Em- 
peror is  insistent  that  none  of  the  gentle- 
men shall  engage  in  skirmishing.      Garci- 
laso received,  two  lance  wounds;  the  one 
in  the  mouth  was  trifling  and  the  other 
in  the  arm  was  fairly  serious,  but  they  are 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

135 

not  dangerous."     Even  so  it  is  possible 
that  the  exact  details  of  the  engagement 
were  doubtful  and  thus  it  happened  that 
different  versions  of  the  same  event  found 
there  way  to  those  who  chronicled  the  cam- 
paign.    Fernandez  de  Navarrete,  without 
citing  any  authority  either  oral  or  written, 
adds    the    amusing    comment    that    this 
wound  in  the  mouth  somewhat  disfigured 
his  beauty  and  also  impeded  his  speech, 
but  that  the  latter  added  to  his  popularity 
by  virtue  of  a  sort  of  childish  accent  which 
it  gave  to  his  delivery. ^ 

Garcilaso's  wounds  were  no  doubt  quickly 
healed;    at  least  they  did  not  prevent  his 
taking  part  in  the  remainder  of  the  cam- 
paign.    Goleta  was  taken  on   July   14th 
and   on   the    22nd   the   Emperor   entered 
Timis.2    As  soon  as  he  had  firmly  propped 
Muley-Hascen  on  his  unstable  throne,  he 
disbanded   his    forces    and    embarked    on 
August  17th  for  Sicily.     His  fleet  reached 
Trapani  on  the  western  coast  of  the  is- 
land on  the  22nd.     Here  Garcilaso  wrote 
to  Boscan  the  Elegy  begirming, 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

136 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Aqui,  Boscan,  donde  del  buen  Troyano 
Anchises  con  eterno  nombre  y  vida 
conserva  la  ceniza  el  Mantuano, 
debaxo  de  la  sena  esclarecida 
de  Caesar  Affricano  nos  hallamos 
la  veneedora  gente  recogida. 

This  was  the  first  visit  of  Charles  V  to 
his  Sicilian  possessions  and  he  made  his 
way  overland  to  Palermo,  while  his  fleet 
proceeded   directly   to   that   harbor.      On 
this    voyage    there    died    Bernardino    de 
Toledo,  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Alba,  who 
had  been  ill  during  most  of  the  campaign 
with  a  disease  which  was  prevalent  during 
the  early  sixteenth  century.     A  letter  of 
the  Count  of  Nieva,  written  at  Palermo 
on  the  6th  of  September  records  the  sor- 
row of  the  whole   company,   for  he  was 
looked  upon  as  a  "royal  good  fellow  {muy 
mozo  y  homhre  de  bien).'^^    It  was  to  com- 
memorate his  death  that  Garcilaso  adapted 
the  Latin  elegy  of  Fracastoro  on  the  death 
of  Marcantonio  de  la  Torre  in  the  Castil- 
ian    version    which    he    dedicated    to    his 
friend  the  Duke  of  Alba. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

1*" 

In  the  light   of  subsequent  events  we 
may  judge  that  Garcilaso's  bravery  at  La 
Goleta  had  restored  him  to  the  favor  of 
the   Emperor   and   that   he   accompanied 
him  during  this  visit  in  Sicily.    By  the  end 
of  October  His  Majesty  had  finished  his 
official  business  at  Palermo  and  Messina, 
and  crossed  over  into   Calabria. ^     When 
they  reached  the  outskirts  of  Naples  on 
November  22nd,  it  was  learned  that  the 
triumphal    arches    and   other    decorations 
which  were  being  prepared  in  the  city  in 
honor  of  his  first  entrance  were  not  yet 
ready;    he  therefore  spent  three  days  at 
Leucopetra,    the    villa    of    the    secretary, 
Martirano.      With    great    pomp    and    re- 
joicing  Charles  V  and  his  company  en- 
tered Naples  on  the  25th,  escorted  by  the 
Prince    of    Salerno. ^      The    winter    which 
followed  was  one  of  unusual  deHght.     For 
two  months  and  a  half  a  cloudless  sky  and 
a  springtide  warmth  offered  occasion  for 
the   ceaseless   rounds   of   jousts,   masques 
and  fetes,  in  which  the  most  distinguished 
nobles  and  ladies  of  Italy  and  of   Spain 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

138 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

took    part.i      Garcilaso,    freed    from    the 
cloud   which   had   hung   over   him,   must 
have  found  these  months  the  most  event- 
ful in  his  life.     Before  his  departure  for 
Africa,    he    had    sent    to    Pietro    Bembo, 
through  Girolamo  Seripando,  several  Latin 
odes,  one  of  them  addressed  to  the  dis- 
tinguished   Venetian.      Late    in    August, 
Bembo  wrote  to  him  a  letter  in  Latin  to 
express  his  thanks  and  appreciation.^    His 
praise   was  not  equivocal  when  he  used 
such  terms  as  these:  "I  have  read  almost 
nothing  written  in  these  times  with  greater 
elegance,    judgment,    purity    or   dignity." 
Aside   from   the   consideration  that   Gar- 
cilaso's  cult  of  the  Classics  made  his  work 
dear  to  Bembo,  it  were  well  to  observe 
that  in  this  same  letter  he  has  a  particular 
favor  to  ask  of  the  Spanish  poet,  his  inter- 
cession with  the  Emperor  in  behalf  of  the 
brother  of  his  friend,  the  friar  Onorato  Fa- 
scitelli,  who  was  the  bearer  of  the  letter  to 
Garcilaso.  In  a  letter  to  Fascitelli,  written 
at  the  same  time,^  he  speaks  with  enthusi- 
asm of  Garcilaso 's  verse  and  of  the  prom- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

139 

ise  which  he  gives  of  surpassing  even  his 
Italian  contemporaries,  and  adds   that  he 
is  not  surprised  that  the  Marquis  of  \'asto 
holds  him  in  esteem  and  is  eager  to  have 
him  in  his  company,  as  Seripando  has  told 
him.^  We  may  be  sure  that  Garcilaso's  grat- 
itude toward  his  protector  the  Viceroy  was 
sufficient  to  keep  him  from  deserting  to  the 
service  of  his  principal  rival. 

Another  interesting    glimpse    of  Garci- 
laso's acquaintanceship  is  offered  by  a  let- 
ter of  Juan  Gines  Sepiilveda  to  Luis  de 
Avila  y  Zuniga,  written  at  Rome  on  Janu- 
ary   12,    1536,   in  which    he    thanks    the 
historian  for  a  copy  of  his  history  of  the 
campaign  of  Timis,  which  the  latter  had 
intrusted  to  Garcilaso  for  delivery.^     The 
letter  closes  with  a  brief,  but  delicate  trib- 
ute to  his  two  friends:    "And  yet  you  ex- 
pect no  thanks  for  such  good  offices,  for  I 
perceive  that  you  are  intent  upon  adding 
to  your  glory  by  the  honors  that   come 
from  letters,  and  upon  encouraging  studies 
of  this  sort  in  every  possible  way,  so  that 
men  ought  rather  to  praise  your  purpose 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

140 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

than  thank  you  for  it."    It  is  not  unlikely 
that  Garcilaso  delivered  this  manuscript 
to   Sepulveda  in   person,   whom  he  may 
have  met  already  during  the  period  when 
Charles  V  was  in  Italy  for  his  coronation, 
for  Sepulveda  was  then  in  the  suite  of  the 
Cardinal    Quinon.^      Under    any    circum- 
stances his  interest  in  letters  must  have 
been    a    source    of    great    satisfaction    to 
Sepulveda.    The  latter  had  just  published 
at  Rome  his  dialogue   Democrates,^  dedi- 
cated to  the  Duke  of  Alba,  an  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  practice  of  warfare  with  the 
precepts  of  Christianity.     In  the  opening 
paragraph  he  had  expressed  the   delight 
which  he  had  felt  at  Bologna  in  1530  upon 
finding  that  the  young  Spanish  noblemen 
whom  he  met  at  that  time  at  the  Court  of 
Charles  V  had  ceased  to  believe,  as  had 
their  fathers,  that  the  profession  of  arms 
was  the  only  one  becoming  a  gentleman 
and  had  begun  to  show  a  certain  inclina- 
tion to  literature  and  learning.    In  a  meas- 
ure. Garcilaso  exemplified  the  type  which 
he  was  eager  to  encourage,  and  his  admir- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

141 

ation  for  the  soldier -poet  of  Toledo  was 
now  increased  by  a  Latin  ode  which  Gar^ 
cilaso  dedicated  to  him.     In  this  poem, 
the  author  refers  specifically  to  the  Demo- 
crates, 

Arcum  quando  adeo  relHgioms 
saevae  militiae  ducere  longius 
ut  curvata  coire 

inter  se  capita  baud  hegent, 
una  musa  tibi,  docte  Sepulveda, 
concessit. 

And  he  also  mentions  the  history  of  the 
campaign  in  Timis  which  he  was  writing, 
assisted,  as  Sepulveda  himself  admits,^  by 
the  accotmt  which  he  received  from  Avila 
y  Ziifiiga, 

.  .  .pariter  dicere  et  Africam 
incumbit  pavitantem 

sub  rege  intrepido  et  pio. 

Both  as  a  courtier  and  as  a  man  of  let- 
ters, Garcilaso  was  beginning  to  win  favor. 

! 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

142 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN 
The    rivalry    between    Francis    I    and 
Charles  V  had  begun  in  their  youth  when 
they   were    candidates    for    the    Imperial 
crown.     This  rivalry  had  developed  into 
a  veritable  hatred  after  the  part  which 
the  French  king  had  played  in  breaking 
the  terms  of  the   Peace  of   Madrid,  nor 
had  the  Peace  of  Cambray,  three  years 
later,  been  more  than  the  expression  of 
their   need   for   a   brief   breathing   space. 
Since   1529  Francis  I  had  been  pursuing 
a  curious  course.     Engaged  in  overt   or 
covert    negotiations    with    the     German 
Protestants  and  even  with   Solyman  the 
Magnificent,  he  had  lost  no  opportunity 
of  acting  to  the  detriment  of  Charles  V, 
seeking   always    a   pretext   to   incite   the 
other   princes  of  Europe  to  open  revolt 
against  him.     Having  failed  to  come  to 
an  agreement  with  the  Emperor  concern- 
ing the  disposition  of  the  duchy  of  Milan, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

143 

he  invaded  Savoy  in  the  spring  of  1536  and 
seized  Turin.     The  Emperor  left  Naples 
on  March  22nd,  entering  Rome  on  April 
5th.     There,  on  the  Monday  after  Easter 
(April  17th)  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope, 
the  College  of  Cardinals  and  the  ambas- 
sadors, he  delivered  his  famous  invective 
against   his  rival,    aimouncing   his   deter- 
mination to    take    up   the    gage    of    war 
which  Francis  I  had  thrown  down.^ 

We  should  suppose  that   Garcilaso  ac- 
companied the  Emperor  on  this  trip,  were 
it  not  for  a  curious  tale  in  the  Carlo  famoso 
of  Zapata,   which   if  it   savors   rather  of 
romance  than   of  documentary  evidence, 
has  nothing  in  it  to  render  imlikely  the 
background   of   fact   from   which   such   a 
fanciful  tradition  may  have  arisen. ^  Briefly, 
the  story  which  the  garrulous  author  has 
spread  over  twenty-two  octaves, 

.  .  .  por  alegrar  al  que  desvela 
su  espiritu,  escuchando  este  gran  cuento, 

is  as  follows.    Garcilaso,  commissioned  by 
the  Emperor  to  accompany  a  Neapolitan 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

144 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

lady  to  her  estate  and  administer  punish- 
ment  to   one   of  her   relatives    who    had 
attempted    to    seize     her    property,    was 
wounded  in  the  encounter  which  the  execu- 
tion of  his  task  involved  and  forced  to 
remain  in  the  house  of  the  lady.     Mean- 
while Charles  V  had  left  the  city.     Gar- 
cilaso,    before    his    wounds    were    wholly 
healed,  accepting  as  a  reward  only  a  horse 
and  a  lance  to  replace  those  which  he  had 
lost  in  the  combat,  started  for  Rome  at- 
tended only  by  his  squire.    One  day  as  he 
fared   upon   his   solitary   way   he   met    a 
maiden  who  expressed  her  surprise  that 
he  should  venture  to  travel  thus  alone, 
inasmuch  as  the  roads  were  infested  by 
highwaymen,  —  a  report  which  was  cor- 
roborated by  the  keeper  of  the  inn  where 
he  had  lodged  that  night.     Garcilaso  was 
nothing  daunted  and  continued  on  his  way. 
Now  it  chanced  that  in  a  wooded  place 
near  Velletri  he  was  suddenly  set  upon  by 
a  band  of  more  than  three  hundred   (!) 
ruthless  brigands.    Placing  his  lance  in  the 
rest,  he  charged  upon  them.    One  he  slew; 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

145 

two  more  he  stretched  upon  the  sod;    a 
score  he  wounded.    The  wicked  band,  dis- 
mayed at  the  fierceness  of  his  onslaught, 
turned  in  flight  and  only  then  did  he  dis- 
cover that  they  had  stripped  his  squire 
and  bound  him  naked  to  a  tree.     Loosing 
his  bonds,  he  presented  him  with  the  suit 
of  one  of  his  victims  and  once  more,  un- 
perturbed,  proceeded   on   his   way.      The 
episode  has  all  the  earmarks  of  the  chival- 
rous romance ;  such  incidents  are  the  every- 
day affair  of  the  knights  of  Boiardo  and 
of  Ariosto.     But  whether  or  not  we  care 
to  admit  the  possibility  even  of  an  his- 
torical basis  of  fact,  it  has  its  interest  and 
its  value  as  pointing  to  that  cult  of  Gar- 
cilaso's  prow^ess  which  has  persisted  down 
to  his  modem  biographers.     Zapata  was 
a  contemporary  and  hence  may  be  looked 
upoi;  as  in  some  degree  representing  the 
sentiment  of  his  own  generation. 

It  is  to  Zapata  again  that  we  are  in- 
debted for  an  anecdote  concerning  the  poet, 
included   in   his    Misceldnea,   which   may 
refer  to  his  departure  from  Naples  at  this 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

146 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

time.^    "Garcilaso,"  he  says,  "was  on  very 
intimate  terms  with  the  Viceroy,  the  Mar- 
quis of  Villafranca  and  he  remained  as  one 
of  his  court.    But  his  intimacy  disappeared 
Hke  false  alchemy  in  smoke.     And   Don 
Pedro  de  Toledo,  whom  they  called   'the 
German,'  because  he  spoke  it,   discussing 
with   Garcilaso  the  possibility  of  his  re- 
maining with  him,  when  he  was  going  away 
without   a  very   plentiful   provision,   said 
to  him, 

Heu  fuge  crudelis  terras,  fuge  litus  avarum. 
Nam  Polydorus  ego."  (Aenead,  III,  44-45) 

If  the  story  is  authentic,  it  may  well  reflect 
the  pique  of  the  Viceroy  on  learning  that 
Garcilaso  was  to  leave  his  ser\^ice  for  that 
of  the  Emperor;    at  least  it  presents  him 
as  a  student  of  the  Classics. 

The  Emperor  and  his  company  left  Rome 
on  April  i8th.^    In  ten  days  they  were  in 
Florence.     From  there  on  the  4th  of  May 
the  Emperor,  about  to  start  for  Pistoia, 
dispatched   Garcilaso,   whom  he  had  ap- 
pointed   maestre   de    campo   of   the   three 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS    ^ 

147 

thousand  Spanish  troops  that  were  com- 
ing to  join  the  expedition  into  France,  with 
instructions  for  Andrea  Doria  and  Antonio 
de  Leiva,  his  commanders-in-chief.     Two 
hours  before  day-break  on  the  6th  Gar- 
cilaso   delivered  his  messages  to  Andrea 
Doria,  who  was  then  in  Genoa,  and  to  the 
Imperial   ambassador,  Gomez    Suarez  de 
Figueroa,  and  immediately  continued  on 
his  way  to  Rivarrota  near  Milan,  where 
the  Captain-General  was  encamped.    The 
jotimey  took  two  days  and  he  again  started 
at  once  for  Sarzano,  which  the  Emperor 
had  planned  to  reach  on  the  loth.    Charles 
V  was   evidently   delayed,   for   not   until 
Friday  the  12th  did  he  arrive  at  Sarzano. 
There    he    received    from    Garcilaso    the 
answer  of  Antonio  de  Leiva. 

For  the  next  four  days  Garcilaso  traveled 
in  the  company  of  the  Imperial  forces,  in 
which  time  they  came  to  Fomovo.     On 
the  17th  he  was  once  more  sent  to  Genoa 
with  orders  to  hold  the   Spanish  troops, 
which  were  hourly  expected,  between  that 
city  and  Alessandria,  until  the  Emperor 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

148 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

should  reach  the  latter  town.    At  the  same 
time  he  was  given  a  commission  as  captain 
of  one  of  the  eleven  companies  into  which 
the  Spanish  troops  were  divided.     On  the 
2oth  he  wrote  to  the  Emperor  from  Genoa 
(the  autograph  letter  is  preserved)  that  the 
forces  had  arrived  and  that  it  was  their 
intention,  in  accordance  with  the  instruc- 
tions of  Andrea  Doria,  to  disembark  them 
at  Savona  and  move  toward  Alessandria. 
Charles  V  reached  Alessandria  on  the  24th 
and  having  advanced  as  far  as  Asti  on  the 
26th,  decided  to  await  developments  there. 
Garcilaso's  troops  were  therefore  called  up 
and  lodged  in  the  suburbs  of  the  town.^ 

Antonio  de  Leiva  had  laid  siege  to  the 
fortress  of  Fossano  near  Savigliano.     The 
operation  dragged  along  for  nearly  a  month 
more  before  the  place  capitulated  on  June 
24th.     Two  days  prior  to  the  surrender, 
the  Emperor  moved  on  to  Savigliano  by 
way  of  Alba.    The  garrison  of  Fossano  had 
given  up  the   fortress   on  condition  that 
they  be  allowed  twelve  days  in  which  to 
remove  their  munitions.    ■  Not   until   the 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

149 

6th  of  July,  then,  did  they  evacuate  the 
town,  so  that  the  Emperor  was  forced  to 
wait  in  Savigliano.    The  occupation  of  the 
town  by  the  Imperial  troops  and  the  pre- 
parations for  the  advance  into  France  re- 
quired another  ten  days.    It  was  July  1 7th 
before  the  expedition  started  across  the 
mountains. 

Just  before  their  departure  (July  15th) 
Garcilaso  wrote  to  his  friend   Seripando 
that  it  was  generally  believed  that  before 
another  week  they  would  be  on  their  way 
to  France.     There  is  a  reference  in  this 
letter   to   certain    enmities   of   which   we 
know  nothing  further,  but  which  may  ex- 
plain the  recklessness  which  he  showed  in 
his  eagerness  to  please  the  Emperor.     "I 
am  in  good  health,"   he  writes,    "and   I 
should  be  comfortable  in  every  other  re- 
spect, if   I  had  enemies  who  were  more 
influential   or   less   influential.      The   fact 
that  they  are  not  really  influential  makes 
them   injure   me   in   a   way   unbecoming 
gentlemen,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  not 
wholly  without  influence  gives  them  suc- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

150 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

cess  in  some  of  their  efforts.    But  in  spite  of 
this,  they  weep  more  times  a  day  than 
they  laugh."  ^ 

It  seems  probable  that  at  some  time  dur- 
ing this  campaign  was  written  the  last  of 
Garcilaso's   longer   poems,    the   third  Ec- 
logue.   A  passage  in  this  poem,  one  of  the 
most  widely  quoted  of  his  works,  definitely 
places  its  composition  in  the  midst  of  war- 
fare; 

Entre  las  armas  del  sangriento  Marte, 
do  apenas  ay  quien  su  furor  contrasta, 
hurte  del  tiempo  aquesta  breve  suma, 
tomando  ora  la  espada,  ora  la  pluma.^ 

It  is  true  that  these  words  might  be  ap- 
plied as  well  to  the  campaign  in  Africa, 
but  there  is  a  phrase  in  the  first  stanza  of 
the  poem, 

a  despecho  y  pesar  de  la  ventura 
que  por  otro  camino  me  desvia, 

which  renders  it  probable  that  it  was  writ- 
ten after  his  return  to  the  service  of  the 
Emperor.  3    At  least  we  may  be  sure  that 
it  was  written  some  time  after  the  compo- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

151 

sition  of  the  first  Eclogue,  for  he  refers  to 
the  death  of  Elisa  (Isabel  Freire), 

que  en  aquella  libera  deleytosa 
de  Nemoroso  fue  tan  celebrada. 

From  the  lines, 

Responde  el  Tajo  y  lleva  pressuroso 
al  mar  de  Lusitania  el  nombre  mio, 
donde  sera  escuchado,  yo  lo  fio, 

one  is  tempted  to  think  that  he  had  al- 
ready heard   of   Sa   de   Miranda's    Celia, 
(i535)>  with  its  answer, 

Corren  lagrimas  justas  sin  parar,^ 

to  his  own  refrain  of  the  first  Eclogue, 

Salid  sin  duelo,  lagrimas,  corriendo. 

It  was  the  17  th  of  July  when  Charles  V 
with  his  infantry  left  SavigHano  for  France. 
To  detail  the  events  of  this  brief  but  dis- 
astrous campaign  would  add  little  to  our 
knowledge    of    Garcilaso.      Although    the 
losses  from  wounds  were  small,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  procuring  provisions  in  a  country 
devastated  by  its  own  inhabitants  made 

AND    MONOGRAPH  S 

152 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

disease  prevalent.    To  cite  an  example,  the 
eleven  banderas  under  Garcilaso's  command 
were  reduced  from  3,000  men  to  2,445  r^^n 
by  the  6th  of  September. ^     The  death  of 
the  Captain-General,  Antonio  de  Leiva,  at 
Aix    on    September    loth    was    the    final 
stroke  that  led  the  Emperor  to  retire;   on 
the  13th  the  retreat  was  begun.    Although 
unmolested  by  the  forces  of  the  French 
king,  the  Imperial  army  was  constantly 
harassed  by  the  natives  of  the  districts 
through  which  they  passed.    It  was  in  one 
of  these  petty  affairs  that  Garcilaso  re- 
ceived the  injury  which  ended  his  life. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

154 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

concealed  in  the  tower  so  that  they  had 
not  been  seen  until  one  of  the  members 
of  the  Emperor's  suite,  desiring  to  climb 
up  into  the  tower  by  a  ladder  that  he  set 
up,  the  men  in  the  tower  let  him  come  up 
to  the  second  story,   or  arch,  but  when 
he  started  to  climb  to  the  top,  where  they 
were,  one  of  them  came  to  the  opening  of 
the  arch  and  told  him  not  to  come  up.    At 
this  the  man  who  was  climbing  up  asked 
him  who  the  people  in  the  tower  were  and 
he  told  him  that  they  were  Frenchmen  and 
that  he  mustn't  go  up  there.    At  this  the 
member  of  the  Emperor's  suite  went  down 
and  told  the  Emperor.    When  the  Emperor 
heard  it,  he  ordered  them  to  go  and  find 
out  who  they  were,  and  so  some  gentlemen 
went,  asking  them  what  they  were  doing 
there.     They  said  it  was  their  land  and 
they  were  going  to  stay  there;   the  gentle- 
men told  them  to  come  down  out  of  the 
tower  and  go  where  they  liked,  and  they 
answered  that  they  didn't  want  to  leave 
the  tower.     At  this  the  Emperor  wanted 
to  see  who  they  were  and  what  they  were 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

155 

there  for  and  so  he  ordered  that  fire  should 
be  opened  on  the  tower  with  a  battery 
which  had  arrived  with  the  vanguard  and 
so  this  was  done  and  a  Httle  breach  was 
opened  in  the  tower.     When  this  breach 
was   made,    Don    Jeronimo   de   Urrea,    a 
Spanish   gentleman,   with   a  sorry  ladder 
rushed  to  the  tower  and  entered  through 
the  breach.     After  Don  Jeronimo  de  Ur- 
rea, Captain  Maldonado  and  the  maese  de 
campo,  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  wanted  to  go 
up,  and  there  was  some  discussion  as  to 
which  should  go  first.     Just  at  this  minute 
up  comes  Don  Guillen  de  Moncada,  son 
of  Don  Hugo  de  Moncada,  saying,  'Gentle- 
men, I  beg  you,  since  you  have  so  much 
honor,   let  me  win  a  little  honor.'     Im- 
mediately  Captain   Maldonado   answered 
him,  saying,  'For  so  valiant  a  gentleman 
this  is  but  little  honor.     Go  up.'    And  so 
the   second   person   was   Don   Guillen   de 
Moncada.     While   Garcilaso   de   la   Vega 
and  Captain  Maldonado  were  going  up, 
the  men  in  the  tower  dropped  a  big,  heavy 
stone,  and  it  strikes  the  ladder  and  breaks 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

156 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

it,   and  so  the   maese  de  campo  and  the 
Captain  fell,  and  the  maese  de  campo  was 
badly  wounded  in  the  head,  from  which 
he  died  a  few  days  later." 

In  the   Carlo  famoso,^  Zapata  gives  an 
almost  identical  account  of  the  affair;   the 
number  of  farmers  is  thirteen  and  Jeronimo 
de  Urrea  and  Guillen  de  Moncada  are  the 
gentlemen  who  finally  receive  their  sur- 
render.    He   attributes  to  Garcilaso  and 
not  to  Maldonado  the  statement, 

.  .  .  desdichado 
sera  el  qu'en  una  impresa  tan  vil  muera, 

and  makes  him  the  first  to  cHmb  the  lad- 
der, wearing  an  ordinary  cap,  which  he 
has  snatched  from  a  passing  soldier,  in- 
stead of  a  helmet,  and  without  a  cuirass. 
But  these  are  details  which  concern  rather 
the  picturesqueness  of  the  account.    From 
the  French  side,  also,  we  have  a  version  of 
this  episode  of  the  retreat  in  a  fragment 
of  the  Ogdoades  of  Guillaume  du  Bellay.^ 
Messire  Guillaume  does  not  mention  the 
name  of  the  Spanish  gentleman  who  was 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

157 

wounded,  but  he  gives  several  interesting 
facts  of  the  story.     Most  important  is  his 
assertion  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
farmers  to  kill  Charles  V,  and  that  taking 
another  gentleman  for  him,  on  accoimt  of 
the  richness  of  his  dress,  they  rolled  down 
onto  him  the  stone  which  fatally  wounded 
him.     Du  Bellay  is  the  first  to  place  the 
number  of  the  men  in  the  tower  at  fifty, 
a  figure  which  was  accepted  by  Herrera^ 
and  by  most  of  his  later  biographers. ^ 

Cerezeda  goes  on  to  tell  how  the  men 
in  the  tower  finally  surrendered  on  condi- 
tion that  they  should  not  be  sent  to  the 
galleys;    and  how  the   Emperor,   finding 
that  they  "had  not  behaved  as  good  sol- 
diers," kept  his  word  by  cutting  off  the 
ears  of  the  boys  and  hanging  the  men  at 
the  window  of  a  near-by  building.    Zapata 
gives  his   actual   words,   versified,    saying 
that  when  Luis  de  la  Cueva,  who  had  been 
ordered  to  execute  the  Provengaux,  asked 
if  all  should  be  hung,  the  Emperor  replied, 

A  todos  les  estiren  de  los  cuellos. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

158 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

It  was  the  cruel  vengeance  of  Charles  V 
and  not  the  loss  of  one  of  his  courtiers 
which  has  lingered  in  the  minds  of  the 
natives.      Today    the    tower,    ''tall    and 
round,"  which  still  stands  just  outside  of 
the  village  of  Le  Muy,  stirred  only  by  the 
crooning  of  the  pigeons  that  build  their 
nests  in  the  dusty  rafters  of  its  roof,  is 
called   "La   tour   Charles-Quint,"   though 
the  miller,  whose  plant  occupies  the  ''little 
house"  adjoining,  never  dreams  that  his 
hardy  ancestors  once  paid  there  so  bitter 
a  penalty  for  their  daring. 

After  his  injtiry  Garcilaso  was  carried 
to  Nice.    There  he  died  at  the  residence  of 
the  Duke  of  Savoy  on  October  13,  1536.^ 
We  will  not  linger  over  the  edifying  details 
of  his  pious  repentance  and  regrets  for  his 
past  folly  in  devoting  himself  to  art,  as 
they    are    recorded    by    Cienfuegos;     the 
biographer    was    penning    the    life    of    a 
saint. 2     But  we  may  believe  that  he  died 
bravely,  as  he  had  lived, 

Sepan  que  ya  no  puedo 

morir  sino  sin  miedo. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


159 


There  is  a  strange  irony  in  the  manner  of 
his  death,  which  ahnost  Hterally  fulfills 
the  words  which  he  had  written  in  the 
preceding  year, 

Y  esta  no  permitio  mi  dura  suerte 

que  me  sobreviniq^se  peleando, 

de  hierro  traspassado  agudo  y  fuerte, 

not  killed  in  open  combat  with  his  peers, 
but  struck  down  in  a  miserable  squabble 
with  a  group  of  peasants.  And  yet  the 
manner  of  his  death  is  of  little  moment. 
He  had  spent  his  whole  life  in  the  service 
of  his  king.  To  that  service  he  gave  the 
last  gift  he  had  to  give,  his  life. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


160 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

XV 
THE  CHAPEL  OF  THE  ROSARY 

There  is  an  account  in  the  Carlo  famoso 
of  how  Lope  de  Guzman  and  Rodrigo  Nino 
brought  the  sad  news  of  Garcilaso's  death 
to  his  wife  and  of  her  grief  and  lament. ^ 
The  Emperor  however  provided  Hberally 
for  her  and  for  her  children, ^  and  the  Duke 
of  Alba,  Zapata  tells  us  in  his  Misceldnea,^ 
continued  to   show  his  affection   for  the 
poet,  who  had  paid  such  constant  tribute 
to  him,  by  the  concern  that  he  showed  for 
his  family.     Dona  Elena  de  Zufiiga  opened 
the  will,  which  her  husband  had  drawn  up 
eight  years  before,  in  the  presence  of  the 
alcalde   of   Toledo   on    January   3,    1537.^ 
Three  days  later  his  m.other,  Dofia  Sancha 
de  Guzman,  died,^  leaving  her  estate  to 
her  son,   Pedro   Laso,   her  daughter,   the 
Countess  of  Palma,  and  Dofia  Elena  de 
Guzman,  as  mother  of  Garcilaso's  children. 
On  May  2nd  Dofia  Elena  presented  witnes- 
ses to  prove  her  husband's  death^  and  at 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  I6i 


the  end  of  the  year  applied  for  confirma- 
tion of  her  legal  guardianship  over  her 
children.^  Of  the  three  sons  which  Gar- 
cilaso  had  named  in  his  will  in  1529,  the 
eldest,  Garcilaso  was  already  dead,  for 
she  mentions  only  Ifiigo  and  Pedro.  In 
addition  she  speaks  of  two  other  children, 
a  daughter  Sancha,  then  five  years,  and  a 
son  Francisco,  a  little  over  two  years  of 
age.  It  is  probable  that  the  oldest  sur- 
viving son,  Inigo,  assumed  his  deceased 
brother's  name  during  the  following  year, 
for  on  June  21,  1539  the  Emperor  granted 
to  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  son  of  the  poet, 
a  stipend  of  80,000  maravedis  a  year  until 
such  time  as  he  should  receive  him  into 
his  household  or  make  other  provision  for 
him.  2 

The  career  of  the  heir  to  the  poet's 
name  and  estate  was  as  brief  as  was  his 
father's.  While  he  was  still  a  youth  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Order  of  Santiago  in 
1543.^  One  of  the  witnesses  to  his  nobility 
was  his  father's  friend,  the  Duke  of  Alba, 
who  admitted  that  he  was  a  kinsman  of 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


162 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the   applicant   within   the   fourth   degree. 
Another  of  the  witnesses,  Francisco  Ruiz 
de  Herrera,  an  old  friend  of  the  family  who 
had  carried  him  in  his  arms  to  be  baptized, 
declared  that  he  was  "studying  Latin  and 
Greek  and  other  accomplishments  such  as 
become  a  virtuous  lad."     It  is  probable 
that  he  studied  later  at  the  University  of 
Salamanca.     He  is  the  author  of  a  Latin 
epigram  to  Hernando  de  Acuiia^  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  poems  by  Garcilaso  which 
are  found  in  the  collection  of  cartapacios 
from  Salamanca  now  in  the  Royal  Library 
in  Madrid,  are  from  his  pen.^     He  later 
entered  the  service  of  the  Emperor.     In 
February  1551  he  was  with  the  Court  at 
Augsburg. 3     Four  years  later,  on  October 
4 J   i555>  he  was  killed  in  the  defense  of 
Volpiano,  near  Turin.*     It  is  interesting 
to  know  that  in  the  councils  of  the  cap- 
tains during  his  last  days,  his  advice  was 
listened  to  with  respect  because  they  knew 
"that  he  was  intimate  with  the  Duke  of 
Alba."      He    had    inherited    his    father's 
friendships  as  well  as  his  name. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

163 

The  third  son  of  Garcilaso,   Pedro  de 
Guzman,  early  showed  an  inclination  for 
religion;   on  August  29,  1543  he  ceded  his 
share  in  his  father's  estate  to  his  mother 
and  assuming  the  name  of  one  of  his  early 
kinsmen,    Domingo   de   Guzman,   entered 
the  Dominican  order/     A  Master  of  the 
University     of     Salamanca,     he     became 
famous  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  teacher. 
When    Luis    de    Leon    wrote    the    verses, 
'Aqui  la  envidia  y  mentira"  upon  his  re- 
lease from  prison  in  1576,  Fray  Domingo 
answered   them   with   a   gloss,   beginning 
'Torque  las  danadas  leyes,"  ^  which  must 
have  gained  a  certain  celebrity,   for   Cer- 
vantes borrowed  four  lines, 

^.Que  don  Alvaro  de  Luna, 
que  Annibal  cartagines 
que  Francisco,  rey  frances 
se  quexa  de  la  fortuna  ? 

in  the  verses  of  "Urganda  la  Desconocida," 
which    introduce    the    first    part    of    the 
Quixote.     In  1579  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the   Chair   of    Sacred    Scriptiire   at    Sala- 
manca but  was  defeated  by  Luis  de  Leon. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

164 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

The  vote  was  very  close  and  the  litigation 
over  the  decision  lasted  until  October,  1581, 
when  Luis  de  Leon  was  declared  elected. 
Years  later,  however,  when  both  the  can- 
didates were  dead,  some  one,  troubled  by 
a  guilty  conscience,  appeared  at  the  mon- 
astery of  San  Esteban  in   Salamanca,  of 
which  Fray  Domingo  was  a  member,  and 
offered  the   Order  eight  thousand  re  ales, 
declaring  that  he  had  voted  against  Fray 
Domingo  in  that  election,  although  he  was 
not  qualified  to  vote,  and  wished  now  to 
make  some  amends  for  the  injustice  which 
his  illegal  act  had  done.     Before  his  death 
Domingo  de  Guzman  was  elected  to  the 
chair  which  was  called  "de  Durando."    He 
was  still  lecturing  when  he  died  in  July, 
1582.1 

Francisco  de  la  Vega,  Garcilaso's  young- 
est son,  died  when  he  was  a  boy.^  His  only 
daughter,   Sancha  de  Guzman,  was  mar- 
ried to  her  cousin,  Antonio  Puertocarrero, 
younger  son  of  the  Count  of  Palma,  in 
May,    1551.^     Her   mother   provided-  her 
with  an  unusually  large  dowry,  five  mil- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

165 

lion    maravedis.      On    the    death    of    her 
brother    Garcilaso,    she    became    the    sole 
heir,  although  her  mother  left  specific  pro- 
vision that  she  should  make  an  allowance 
to  her  brother  Fray  Domingo,  as  long  as 
he  lived.  1    Thus  was  the  male  line  of  Gar- 
cilaso wiped  out,  by  war  and  by  the  Church, 
a    fate    which    has    overtaken    so    many 
Spanish  families.      From   Dona    Sancha's 
marriage  with  her  cousin  came  the  Counts 
of  Monclova,  a  title  which  is  today  an- 
nexed to  the  Duchy  of  the  Infantado.^ 

The    fates    were    equally    unkind    with 
Lorenzo  de  Guzman,  the  illegitimate  son 
of  the  poet.     While  he  was  still  a  lad  he 
incurred  the   wrath   of  the   Emperor   for 
having  posted  outside  the  church  of  San 
Pablo  in  ValladoHd  a  Latin  lampoon  on 
various  members  of  the  Court.     Charles 
V  at  first  sentenced  him  and  his  cousin,  a 
son  of  Pedro  Laso  who  was  also  involved 
in  the  prank,  to  death,  for  a  similar  of- 
fense not  long  before  had  gone  unpunished. 
On  the  intercession  of  his  son  Philip,  he 
commuted  this  penalty  to  two  years  of 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

166 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

imprisonment    and     exile    from    Castile.^ 
Tamayo  de   Vargas  cites  from  Agustin  a 
statement  that  he  died  on  his  way  to  Oran, 
whither  he  was  making  his  way  in  execu- 
tion of  this  penalty. 

On  the  death  of  Garcilaso  at  Nice  his 
body  was  placed  in  a  Dominican  monastery 
in  that  city.^   Two  years  later  his  wife  had 
it  removed  and  brought  to  Toledo,  where 
it  was  placed  in  the  ancestral  tomb  of  the 
lords  of  Batres  in  the  church  of  San  Pedro 
Martir,  thus  satisfying  the  complaint  of 
Sa  de  Miranda, 

En  esto,  oh  buen  pastor,  que  te  va  a  ti  ? 

El  mal  todo  es  de  Espaiia 

si  enriquecen  tus  huesos  tierra  estrana.^ 

Doiia  Elena  rendered  the  accounting  of  her 
husband's  estate  in  1547.^    The  inventory 
of  his  personal  effects  has  not  been  dis- 
covered.   Its  loss  is  the  more  to  be  regret- 
ted because  from  it  we  might  have  formed 
some  idea  of  the  books  which  he  possessed 
and  the  ornaments  which  he  had  gathered 
in  his  sojourn  in  Italy.     We  can  gather 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS         167 


but  little  from  the  Ust  of  debts  which  his 
wife  settled,  amounting  to  over  a  million 
maravedis,  although  it  is  interesting  to 
find  that  he  owed  a  hat -maker  in  Granada 
250  ducats,  a  whole  year's  salary,  and 
that  he  borrowed  money  in  Naples  from 
one  of  his  fellow  soldiers,  a  certain  Captain 
Geronimo.  When  Doiia  Elena  made  her 
first  will,  two  years  later,  she  mentions 
another  debt  which  was  still  unpaid,  the 
sum  of  three  hundred  scudi,  which  Gar- 
cilaso  was  said  to  have  owed  to  a  lady 
named  Catalina  de  Sanseverino.^  If  it  be 
true  that  the  fifth  Cancion  of  the  poet  was 
addressed  to  Catalina  Sanseverino  in  the 
name  of  Mario  Galeota,  as  his  son-in-law 
told  Herrera.-  then  we  must  conclude  that 
his  verses  brought  credit  to  himself,  if  not 
favor  to  his  friend.  Under  any  circum- 
stances it  reveals  a  curious  combination  a 
prose  and  poetry. 

Doiia  Elena  de  Guzman  sur\4ved  luitil 
February  3,  1563.-^  In  her  second  wiU, 
dated  November  28,  1562,  she  mentions 
the  figures  of  her  husband  and  of  her  son 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


168 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

which  she  had  had  carved  for  their  tomb 
in   San   Pedro   Martir,   and  in  a   codicil, 
signed  on  the  eve  of  her  death,  she  left  or- 
ders that  a  background  {respaldar)  should 
be  constructed  and  an  inscription  carved 
by  the  painter  Espinosa.     At  the  same 
time  she  provided  for  an  alabaster  bust  of 
herself  to  be  placed  with  the  other  stat- 
ues. ^     The  remains  of  Garcilaso  rested  in 
San   Pedro   Martir  for  more  than   three- 
centuries,  until  1869,2  when  they  were  ex- 
humed and  carried  to  Madrid  to  be  placed 
in  the  Panteon  de  Hombres  Celebres.    The 
project  for  this  memorial  to  the  famous 
sons  of  Spain  having  proved  abortive,  they 
were  brought  back  to  Toledo  and  deposited 
in  the  Ayuntamiento.     During  the  annual 
feria  in  1900  they  were  once  more  returned 
to   the   family   tomb   in   the    Capilla   del 
Rosario,  as  it  is  now  called,  in  San  Pedro 
Martir.     The  day  of   the  ceremony  was 
celebrated    by    funeral    services    in    the 
Cathedral  and  by  a  solemn  procession  in 
which     the     various     civic     organizations 
marched  in  costumes  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

169 

tury.     At  the  same  time  a  tablet  was  set 
up  on  the  wall  of  his  ancestral  liome  and 
the  Calle  de  las  Cadenas  received  the  name 
of  the  Calle  de  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega.^ 

The  Chapel  of  the  Rosary  in  San  Pedro 
Martir  is  at  the  right  of  the  altar.    Against 
the  right  hand  wall  as  you  enter  stands 
the  tomb  of  the  Garcilasos.  The  stone  fac- 
ing at  the  back  which  his  wife  had  planned 
was  never  built,  but  there  is  an  inscrip- 
tion, though    its    date    is    recent:   "Aqui 
estan  sepultados  los  restos  del  eximio  vate 
toledano,  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  exhumados 
en   1869  para  ser  conducidos  al  Panteon 
Nacional.    El  amor  de  la  Imperial  Ciudad, 
representada    por    su    Ayuntamiento,    los 
restituyo  a  este  sarcofago  familiar,  el  dia 
17  de  Agosto  de  1900.     D.  E.  P."    On  the 
.sarcophagus   are  two  kneeling  figures   in 
marble,  representing  father  and  son.     Al- 
though the  two  bearded  knights  in  armor 
are  almost  identical,  it    is   fairly    certain 
that  the  figure  nearer  the  altar"  represents 
the  poet.     Not  only  is  it  natural  that  the 
son  would  be  placed   behind  the  father, 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

170 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

- 

but  the  face  of  the  statue  in  the  rear  is 
plainly  younger  than   that   of  the  other. 
As  the  poet  was  about  thirty -five  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  while  his  son  was  only 
twenty-eight,   we  may  be   sure   that  the 
noble  head,  which  almost  touches  the  side 
of  the  altar  is  the  image  of  the  poet.     We 
do  not  know  who  was  the  sculptor  who 
carved  the  statues.     The  period  at  which 
they  were  executed,  after  1555,  makes  it 
certain  that  the  likeness  of  Garcilaso  was 
taken  from  a  portrait    and  not  from  life. 
But  as  the  only  authentic  portrait  of  the 
poet  it  has  unusual  value.     It  is  an  im- 
pressive head,  with  its  high  forehead  and 
deep -set  eyes.     The  hair  is  short  and  curly ; 
the  beard  half  square.     There  is  a  singular 
appeal  in  the  grave,  earnest  face.      Set  in 
the  narrow  niche,  he  still  gazes  with  folded 
hands   at   the  little   altar   of  the   chapel," 
alone,  forgotten,  unnoticed  even   by  the 
straggling  worshipper  who  comes  to  leave 
her  tribute  of  flowers  for  the  Virgin. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE      AND      WORKS  171 


CHAPTER  XVI 
PERSONALITY 

It  is  curious  that  so  little  has  come  down 
to  us  which  will  help  us  to  see  Garcilaso, 
the  man.  xA.s  we  have  followed  his  life 
through  the  years,  there  has  been  hardly 
a  glimpse  of  his  whims,  his  weaknesses,  his 
Ukes  and  di.slikes,  nor  a  mention  of  his 
personal  appearance  and  disposition.  The 
only  contemporary  observation  on  his 
character  is  a  word  of  the  jester,  Frances- 
cillo  de  Zuniga,  in  the  passage  of  his  Cronica 
already  referred  to,  in  which  he  swears  by 
"Pedro  Laso's  hope  for  favor  and  the 
gravity  of  his  brother,"^  as  subjects  of  cur- 
rent comment  at  the  Court.  This  serious- 
ness is  characteristic  of  his  writings;  one 
looks  in  vain  for  a  passing  touch  of  himior 
or  the  suspicion  of  a  smile.  Oiu*  poet  is 
utterly  lacking  in  Horatian  geniality.  But 
he  seems  to  have  possessed  a  certain 
caustic  type  of  observation,  if  we  may 
believe  the  anecdotes  which  Zapata  re- 
lates.-   Thus  we  hear  that  upon  one  occa- 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


172 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

si  on,  when  he  and  the  rest  of  the  company 
of  the  Duke  of  Alba  were  about  to  enter 
an  inn  to  eat,  they  found  the  doorway 
blocked    by   the    ill-mannered   throng    of 
the   suite  of  another  great  lord.  Someone 
called  Garcilaso's  attention  to  them  and  he, 
turning  around,  said,  "Go,  acciu-sed  of  my 
father,  for  ye  shall  not  enter  into  my  king- 
dom."    Another  of  his  stories  contains  a 
punning  verse  of  the  poet.^    It  seems  that 
Garcilaso   had  been   attended   during   an 
illness  by  the  Court  physician,  Francisco 
Lopez  de  Villalobos,  and  that  on  his  re- 
covery his  gratitude  had  not    been  suffi- 
ciently concrete  to  induce  him  to  pay  for 
his  services.     And  so  one  day  the  doctor 
sent  a  servant  to  dun  him  for  his  bill.    Gar- 
cilaso opened  an  empty  chest  (area),  took 
out  of  it  an  empty  purse  and  sent  it  to 
him  with  this  verse 

La  bolsa  dice:   yo  vengo 
como  el  area  do  more, 
que  es  el  area  de  Noe; 
que  quiere  decir:   no  tengo. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

173 

Concerning  the  personal  appearance  of 
the  poet,  we  have  no  suggestion  in  the 
writers  of  his  time.    Herrera,  writing  al- 
most  half   a   century  after   his   death,  is 
frankly   non-committal:     "He    was    well- 
proportioned,  for  he  was  rather  tall  than 
of  average  height,   and  his  features  and 
bearing  corresponded  with  his  size.''^    But 
his     later     biographers,     beginning     with 
Tamayo  de  Vargas,   allowed  their  fancy 
free  play,  until  Wiffen  was  able  to  write, 
"His  countenance,  not  without  a  shade  of 
seriousness,  was  expressive  of  much  mild- 
ness and  benevolence;   he  had  most  lovely 
eyes,  his  forehead  was  expansive,  and  his 
whole  appearance  presented  the  picture  of 
manh^  beauty.  "^    In  the  second  volimie  of 
the    Parnaso  espanol,  published  in   1770, 
there  appeared  an  engraving  of  a  portrait 
of   Garcilaso.      Since   then   a   number   of 
portraits  have   been  printed  in   different 
collections  and  editions  of  his  works. ^    All 
of  these  represented  him  as  wearing  the 
cross  flory  of  Alcantara;    all  were  appar- 
ently derived  from  the  same  painting  or 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

1 

174 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

from  one  another.     When  Fernandez  de 
Navarrete  published  in  1850  the  letter  of 
the    Empress    Isabella    which    definitely 
named  the  poet  as  a  knight  of  Santiago, ^ 
the  evidence  was  available  that  the  por- 
trait of  this  gentleman  of  the   Order  of 
Alcantara    was   not    the    portrait    of   the 
Toledan  poet.     It  remained  however  for 
the  Marquis  of  Laurencin  to  establish  with 
sound  scholarship  that  the  knight  of  Al- 
cantara is  actually  a  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega, 
but  another  Garcilaso,  namely  his  nephew, 
son  of  Pedro  Laso,  whose  projected  mar- 
riage with  Dona  Isabel  de  la  Cueva  was 
the  source  of  his  uncle's  imprisonment. ^ 
For  this  Garcilaso,  in  spite  of  the  long  con- 
tinued disfavor  of  Charles  V,  became  dis- 
tinguished as  an  ambassador  under  Philip 
II  and  was  Comendador  de  Belvis  y  Nava- 
rra  in  the  Order  of  Alcantara.     The  re- 
searches of  the  Marquis  of  Laurencin  have 
also  demonstrated  the  futility  of  the  efforts 
of  Justi  to  identify  a  portrait  in  the  Kas- 
sel  Gallery  as  a  likeness  of  the  poet,^  for 
this  work  of  the  school  of  Bronzino  also 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  175 


shows  a  gentleman  wearing  the  green  cross 
of  Alcantara.  The  statue  in  the  chapel  of 
San  Pedro  Martir  therefore  remains  the 
only  work  which  was  assuredly  intended 
to  represent  Garcilaso  de  la  YegSL,  "the 
Prince  of  Castihan  poets." 

Little  as  his  contemporaries  have  to  tell 
us  of  Garcilaso,  his  own  works  offer  no 
more  of  a  picture  of  his  temperament.  So 
large  a  portion  of  them  is  purely  formal 
verse,  impersonal  as  v/as  so  much  of  the 
Italian  poetry  of  the  Cinquecento,  that 
we  should  try  in  vain  to  reconstruct  from 
them  a  character.  But  in  regretting  this 
lack  of  precise  information  concerning  the 
poet,  we  must  remember  that  he  died  be- 
fore he  was  thirty-five  and  that  prior  to 
his  death  the  only  work  from  his  pen  to 
be  published  was  the  letter  included  in  the 
1534  edition  of  Boscan's  translation  of  // 
cortegiano.  Nor  must  it  be  overlooked 
that  his  literary  production  was  not  the 
leisurely  expression  of  a  pensioned  laureate, 
but  the  hasty  composition  of  a  man  of  the 
world,  stolen,  as  he  himself  says,  from  his 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


176 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

obligations  as  a  soldier  and  as  a  courtier. 
Few  men  have  won  recognition  from  their 
contemporaries  at  the  age  of  thirty-five. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  talents  of 
Garcilaso   as   a   soldier   and   cotirtier,   he 
would  long  ago  had  been  forgotten  with  the 
vast  company  of  his  peers,  if  these  had  been 
his   only  claim  to  immortality.  It  is  to  his 
poetry  that  we  must  look  to  discover  the 
qualities   which  have  won  him   enduring 
fame. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

Memorial  Tablet  on  Garcilaso's  Birthplace 


PART  II 
WORKS 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


179 


CHAPTER   I 

SPANISH  VERSES 

During  Garcilaso's  lifetime  only  one  of 
his  works  was  published,  the  Dedicatory 
Epistle  to  the  edition  of  Boscan's  transla- 
tion of  //  cortegiano,  printed  in  1534.  But 
his  talent  must  have  been  known,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  at  least,  among  his  contem- 
poraries through  manuscript  copies  of  his 
poems;  perhaps  the  suelto,  bearing  the 
date  1536,  which  contains  the  sonnet 
"Passando  el  mar  Leandro  el  animoso" 
(No.  XXIX)  was  printed  even  before  his 
death.  The  scattered  papers  of  the  poet 
were  gathered  by  his  famil^^  and  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  his  friend  Boscan,  who  was 
preparing  them  for  publication  together 
with  his  own  verses,  when  he  too  was  sur- 
prised by  death.  Boscan's  widow  deter- 
mined, however,  to  carry  out  her  husband's 
purpose;  in  1543  the  press  of  Carles 
Amoros  in  Barcelona  produced  a  quarto 


HISPANIC    NOTES 


180 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

volume  intitled:    "Las  obras   de   Boscan 
y  algunas  de  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  reparti- 
das  en  quatro  libros."     The  publisher  in  a 
brief  note  "A  los  lectores"  explained  the 
circmnstances    which    had    affected     the 
publication  of  the  work,  adding  that,  de- 
spite any  imperfections   which    it    might 
leveal  for  lack  of  the  polish  which  Bos- 
can's   hand  would  have  given  it,  he   had 
printed    the   text    as    he   had    found    it, 
for  no  one  would  be  so  bold  as  to  under- 
take to  emend  the  works  of  Boscan  nor 
those  of  Garcilaso. 

The  works  of  Garcilaso,  all  in  the  Italian 
measures,  comprised  the  Fourth  Book  of 
the  volume,  —  twenty-eight  sonnets,  five 
canciones,  two  elegies,  an  epistle  and  three 
eclogues.    At  the  front  of  the  volimie  on 
an  inserted  sheet  appeared  another  son- 
net (No.  XXIX),  ''which  they  forgot  to 
put  at  the  end  with  his  works,"  and  among 
the  verses  which  formed  the  First  Book  of 
Boscan's  works  in  the  Castilian  measures, 
was  included  a  villancico  of  Garcilaso  on 
the  theme: 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

181 

Que  testimonios  son  estos, 
que  le  quereys  levant ar, 
que  no  fue  sino  baylar?i 

Rarely  has  a  book  of  verse  enjoyed  a 
greater  popularity  than  did  this  monument 
to  the  lifelong  friendship  of  the  two  poets; 
before  the  end  of  the  century  no  less  than 
twenty-one  editions  were  printed,  includ- 
ing editions  made  in  Italy,  France,  Por- 
tugal and  Flanders,  and  of  these,  sixteen 
appeared  before  1560.    Not  until  1569  did 
there  appear  an  edition  of  the  works  of 
Garcilaso  alone,  when  there  was  printed  at 
Salamanca  a  slight  volimie  containing  the 
compositions  which  had  been  included  in 
the  editions  of  Boscan's  works,  with  the 
exception  of  the  villancico.     In   1574  the 
eminent  humanist,  Francisco  Sanchez  de 
las  Brozas,  printed  at  Salamanca  the  first 
edition  of  Garcilaso 's  works  with  a  com- 
mentary.    In  addition  to  the  works  in- 
cluded in  the  edition  of  1569  he  printed 
several    other    compositions,  —  six    son- 
nets and  five  coplas.     The  second  edition 
(1577)  contained  three  more  sonnets    "at- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

182 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tributed  to  Garcilaso,  from  a  manuscript." 
Since  that  date  the  only  authentic  works 
of  the  poet  which  have  been  discovered 
are  two   coplas,   found  in  the   Biblioteca 
Nacional  in  Madrid;    two  autograph  let- 
ters, preserved  at  Naples  and  at  Simancas, 
and  finally,  of  far  greater  moment,  three 
of  his  Latin  poems,  now  in  the  libraries  of 
Naples  and  Madrid. ^     It  is  probable  that 
he  left  other  works  which  have  disappeared 
or  which  may  still  be  buried  in  some  pro- 
vincial or  family  library.     Luis  Briceno, 
the  publisher  of  the  edition  of  1626,  men- 
tions specifically  a  copy  of  some  still  un- 
published works,  which  was  presented  by 
his  son,  Pedro  de  Guzman,  to  the  March- 
ioness of  Almenara,  but  which  the  printer, 
to  whom  they  had  been  given  for  publica- 
tion, had  failed  to  publish  and  refused  to 
show  to  him.     The  loss  of  these  works  is 
lamentable;   yet  at  least  we  possess  those 
of  his  poems  which  he  himself  felt  worthy 
of  preservation.     Slight  as  is  their  bulk, 
they    are    ample    to    reveal    his    singular 
talents.     Let  us  turn  to  their  study. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

183 

A.       VERSES  IN  THE  CASTILIAN  MEASURES 

Throughout  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  and  the  first  decade  of  that  of 
Charles  V,  the  fashion  of  writing  facile, 
occasional  verse  had  flourished  at  the 
Court  with  all  the  success  which  it  had 
enjoyed  under  Henry  IV;  the  gallant  gentle- 
men of  the  time  continued  to  exercise  their 
wits  in  celebrating  the  petty  events  of  their 
daily  life  in  redondiUas  and  quintillas.  This 
school  of  verse,  which  fills  the  cancioneros 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  is  epitomized  in 
the  Can  doner 0  general  of  Hernando  del 
Castillo  of  151 1,  increased  in  each  sub- 
sequent edition  by  the  addition  of  examples 
of  contemporary  compositions.  At  best 
it  is  a  graceful  vers  de  societe;  at  worst  it 
is  the  drivel  of  an  empty  spirit.  It  was 
in  this  school  that  Garcilaso  made  his  first 
essa^^s  in  the  field  of  poetry. 

The  eight  little  pieces  which  have  sur- 
vived to  illustrate  his  eft'orts  do  not  rise 
above  the  level  of  the  time.  Any  or  aU 
of  them  could  as  well  be  the  work  of  one 
of  the  named  or  imnamed  authors  of  the 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

184 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Cancionero  general.     The  occasions  which 
inspired  them  are  typical:    "To  Luis  de  la 
Cueva,  because  he  danced  at  Court  with 
a  lady  whom  they  called  'The  Bird';"  "To 
Boscan,  because  in  Germany  he  danced  at 
a  wedding;"  "On  a  Departure;"  "To  Isabel 
Freyre,  because  she  married  a  man  out 
of  her  circle;"   "To  Dona  Mencia  de  la 
Cerda,  who  gave  him  a  net  and  said  that 
she  had  woven  it  that  day."    Verses  of  this 
sort  do  not  in  reality  make  any  pretension 
to  being  poetry.     They  are  merely  exer- 
cises in  ingenuity,  intended  to  give  a  dainty 
setting  to  a  bit  of  badinage,  a  compliment 
or  idle  jest.    All  too  often  they  are  a  mere 
subtle  juggling  of  words  or  an  enlargement 
on  a  paradox. 

Be  it  said  that  the  coplas  of  Garcilaso 
are  the  equal  of  any  of  the  type  in  the  only 
qualities  to  which  it  may  claim  merit,  that 
is,  in  gracefulness  and  musical  cadence.    In 
this  respect  there  is  a  particular  charm  in 
the  little  letrilla, 

Nadi  puede  ser  dichoso, 

senora,  ni  desdichado, 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

185 

sino  que  os  haya  mirado; 

porque  la  gloria  de  veros 
en  ese  punto  se  quita 
que  se  piensa  mereceros. 

Asi  que,  sin  conoceros, 
nadi  puede  ser  dichoso, 
senora,  ni  desdichado, 
sino  que  os  haya  mirado. 

(Copla  VIII) 

Among  the  coplas  printed  by  El  Brocense 
in  1574  is  one  "Translating  four  lines  of 
Ovid.  (No.  V).  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
verse  is  properly  attributed  to  Garcilaso, 
for  an  almost  identical  version  of  the  pas- 
sage is  found  as  the  work  of  Diego  Hurtado 
de  Mendoza  in  several  manuscripts  and  in 
the  first  edition  of  his  poems. ^  If  the 
translation  is  really  Garcilaso's,  it  is  in- 
teresting as  revealing  an  early  interest  in 
Ovid  and  also  because  another  Garcilaso 
de  la  Vega,  probably  the  poet's  son,  has 
left  a  sonnet  on  the  same  theme. 

There  is  no  way  of  establishing  precise 
dates  for  any  of  these  early  verses  of  the 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

186 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

poet.     But  it  is  probable  that  they  were 
all  written  before  his  residence  in  Naples 
beginning  in  1532.    The  copla  on  the  mar- 
riage of  Isabel  Freyre  was  certainly  com- 
posed, as  we  have  seen,  as  early  as  1529, 
and  the  verse  mocking  Luis  de  la  Cerda 
must  have  been  written  before  1531,  for 
the  old  Duke  of  Alba,  who  died  in  that 
year,  is  one  of  his  fellow  jesters.    Menendez 
y  Pelayo  is  inclined  to  place  Boscan's  visit 
to  Germany  and  the  dancing  exploit  which 
Garcilaso  celebrates  in  1532,^  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  the   event  belongs  to  the 
early  part  of  the  Emperor's  visit  in  the 
simimer  of   1530,  for  Garcilaso  does  not 
mention  Boscan  as  with  him  on  the  trip 
to  Ratisbonne  in  1532.     Perhaps  some  of 
them   were  written   as  early   as    1525   or 
1526.     Whatever  were  their  dates,   it  is 
at  least  certain  that  Garcilaso  never  at- 
tained the  reputation  as  a  writer  of  coplas 
which  Boscan  enjoyed  as  early  as  1530.^ 
He  was  no  more  distinguished  in  this  ac- 
complishment than  any  well-bred  gentle- 
man of  the  Court. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


187 


B.       VERSES  IN  THE  ITALIAN  MEASURES 

That  Garcilaso  did  not  devote  himself 
to  the  cultivation  of  his  native  form  of 
verse  is  due  to  another  event,  that  historic 
conversation  between  Boscan  and  Andrea 
Navagero  at  Granada  in  1526.  We  have 
seen  how  the  Venetian  ambassador  per- 
suaded the  Spanish  poet  to  endeavor  to 
acclimate  in  Castile  the  measures  of  Pe- 
trarch and  how  the  latter 's  failing  enthusi- 
asm in  this  new  venture  was  rekindled  by 
the  advice  and  emulation  of  his  friend  Gar- 
cilaso. It  is  difficult  to  form  a  judgment 
as  to  the  exact  date  at  which  Garcilaso 
first  began  his  experiments  in  the  Italian 
measures.  The  first  of  his  poems  in  the 
new  style  to  which  it  is  possible  to  attach 
a  definite  date  is  the  cancion  (No.  Ill) 
written  on  the  island  in  the  Danube  in  the 
summer  of  1532.  When  we  consider  the 
master>^  of  form  which  this  cancion  reveals, 
it  is  at  once  apparent  that  its  author  is  no 
novice  in  the  field  and  it  is  probable  that 
a  number  of  his  sonnets  and  canciones  were 
written  before  that  date,  perhaps  as  early 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


188 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

as  1528.     Certain  hesitations  in  the  use  of 
the  hendecasyllable  make  it  probable  that 
his  earliest  poems  are  the  sonnets  which 
head  his   works   in   the   first   edition;    in 
fact,  there  is  reason  for  believing  that  all 
the  poems  there  printed  are  arranged  in 
a  roughly  chronological  order.     We  shall 
therefore  be  justified  in  studying  the  dif- 
ferent   forms    which    he    utilized    in    the 
sequence  in  which  they  originally  appeared, 
tracing  the  development  of  his  art  from 
the  sonnets  through  the  elegies  to  the  ec- 
logues which  were  his  crowning  achieve- 
ment. 

I.      THE    SONNETS    AND    CANCIONES. 

Quando  me  paro  a  contemplar  mi  estado, 
Garcilaso  begins  his  first  sonnet,  recalling 
the  opening  of  a  sonnet  of  Petrarch, 
Quand'io  mi  volgo  in  dietro  a  mirar  gli  anni; 

(Son.  CCLVII) 

Petrarchan  is  the  influence  paramount  in 
all  of  his  first  essays  in  the  sonnet  and 
cancion.     There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
it   was   Navagero   who   encouraged   both 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

189 

Boscan  and  Garcilaso  to  take  him  as  their 
model;   perhaps  it  was  he  who  gave  them 
their  first  copy  of  //  canzoniere.     To  Pet- 
rarch Garcilaso  is  indebted  not  merely  for 
his   measure,   but    for   his   whole   artistic 
technique;     Petrarchan    is   his    choice    of 
theme,  —  a  mood  or  moment  of  amorous 
experience;  Petrarchan,  the  analysis  of  the 
emotions  and  the  subtle,  often  too  subtle, 
contrasts;  Petrarchan,  finally,  the  spiritual 
attitude  of  melancholy,   half-bitter,   half- 
tender,  in  the  presence  of  a  love  that  can 
never  be  realized. 

If  the  opening  line  of  this  first  sonnet 
suggests  the  source  of  Garcilaso 's  early  in- 
spiration, the  remainder  of  the  poem  re- 
veals with  equal  clarity  his  process  of  imi- 
tation.    For  in  reality  the  sonnet  is  in  nO 
sense   an   imitation   of   the    Italian   work 
which  begins  with  the  same  thought.    After 
the    first    two    lines    its    development    is 
wholly  original.     The  poet  has  fashioned 
out   of  a  reminiscence  a  new  work,   fol- 
lowing a  new  train  of  thought.     And  this 
method  is  characteristic  of  all  Garcilaso's 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

190 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

sonnets;    there  are  frequent  reminiscences 
of    Petrarch,    both    verbal    and    general; 
there  is  not  one  which  as  a  whole  may  be 
called  an  imitation  of,  any  individual  son- 
net of  the  Italian  poet. 

A  second  phase  of  his  early  imitation  is 
also    manifest    in    this    same    sonnet:     a 
tendency   to    adopt    the    highly    artificial 
style  with  its  balanced  contrasts,  its  com- 
plicated juggling  with  ideas  or  even  words, 
and  its  preference  for  conceits  to  emotions. 
That  Garcilaso  should  have  endeavored  to 
copy   this    weakness    of    Petrarch    is   not 
strange.     The  mannerisms  of  great  artists 
are  always  easier  to  imitate  than  the  true 
qualities   of  their  genius,   and  it   is   only 
necessary  to  read  the  works  of  his  Italian 
contemporaries,   such   as   Angelo   di   Cos- 
tanzo  or  Bernadino  Rota,  to  realize  that 
Garcilaso's  error  was  one  common  to  his 
time,    despite    the    puristic    attempts    of 
Bembo.  Moreover,  the  poetry  with  which 
he  must  have  been  most  familiar  in  his  own 
Castilian,  the  verses  of  the    Cancioneros, 
suffered  acutely  from  the   same  malady. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

191 

There  was  every  reason,  then,  for  him  to 
have  mistaken  the  means  for  the  end,  and 
when  we  consider  that  he  was  working  in 
a  form  with  which  he  was  unfamiliar,  it 
is  surprising  that  he  so  often  avoided  the 
pitfalls  and  attained  an  accent  of  ardent 
sincerity. 

How  unfamiHar  the  form  was  to  him,  is 
at  once  apparent.    There  is  in  his  sonnets 
and  canciones  little  of  that  polished  ele- 
gance and  musical  mastery  which  gives  // 
canzoniere  of  Petrarch  its  most  enduring 
charm.      The    Hnes    are    often   metrically 
faulty,  both  in  ntimber  of  syllables  and  in 
stress.     Even  in  those  which  are  technic- 
ally correct  there  is  an  awkardness  and  a 
lack  of  flowing  rhythm.    More  striking  still 
as  an  evidence  of  his  inexperience  is  the 
inequality  of  his  diction.     An  admirable 
beginning  is  marred  by  an  ending  of  hope- 
less weakness,  or  again,  a  struggling,  limp- 
ing sonnet  is  redeemed  by  a  brilliant  clos- 
ing tercet.    But  these  occasional  quatrains 
and  tercets,   even   a   few  whole   sonnets, 
which  stand  out  by  reason  of  their  perfec- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

192 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tion  of  expression,  give  promise  of  that 
mastery  of  form  which  was  eventually  to 
be  his  chief  distinction. 

Garcilaso  did  not  give  to  his  sonnets  and 
canciones  that  real  or  fictitious  unity  which 
Petrarch's  careful  revision  was  able  to  im- 
part to  his  Canzoniere.  They  appear  as 
the  scattered  expression  of  his  brief  career, 
offering  us  glimpses  of  his  loves,  his  friend- 
ships, or  his  reading.  And  yet  it  is  pos- 
sible to  trace  in  them  certain  phases  of  his 
experience  and  to  reconstruct  in  some 
measure  the  story  of  his  heart. 

The  poetic  life  of  the  poet  is  divided  into 
two  parts;  the  first,  the  story  of  his  love 
for  Isabel  Freire,  the  second,  the  picture 
of  a  new  and  very  different  passion  in 
Naples.  Let  us  attempt  to  follow  his  story 
through  his  poems.  We  have  seen  already 
the  circumstances  under  which  Isabel 
Freire  came  into  his  life;  to  her  was 
dedicated,  we  know,  the  copla,  "Culpa  deve 
ser  quereros,"  and  it  is  probable  that 
several  of  his  other  verses  in  the  Castilian 
measures  were  addressed  to  her  (as  Coplas 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

193 

III,    IV,   and  VIII). 1     Garcilaso  was  al- 
ready married,  it  is  true,  but  his  position 
as  gentleman  of  the  Emperor's  household 
kept  him  at  Court,  apart  from  his  wife, 
and  no  doubt  in  constant  company  with 
the  lady-in-waiting  of  the  Empress,  Dofia 
Isabel.     That  his  love  for  her  was  intense 
and  sincere  is  revealed  in  every  line  of  his 
works  which  mentions  her;    indeed  it  is 
often  this  quality  of  sincerity  which  dis- 
tinguishes his  real  poetry  from  his  imita- 
tive verses. 

His  first  experiments  in  the  new  style 
belong  early  in  his  acquaintance  with  Dofia 
Isabel;     imder   these   circumstances   it   is 
nattiral  that  they  should  have  been  ad- 
dressed to  her,  the  more  so,  in  that  his 
relation  to  his  beloved  was  precisely  that 
of  Petrarch  to  Laura,  a  love  that  could 
never  be  requited.     Thus  we  find  in  the 
first  two  sormets  a  picture  of  his  despair: 
he  has  given  himself  to  her  and  she  is 
scornful;  the  only  remedy  is  death.    This, 
too,  is  the  mood  of  the  first  two  canciones, 
which  make  clear  the  completeness  of  his 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

194 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

surrender,  the  bitterness  and  pain  which 
her  indifference  causes  him.    It  is  she  who 
has  filled  his  life,  he  declared  in  the  sonnet, 

Escrita  esta  en  mi  alma  vuestro  gesto;  (V) 

her  love  has  wholly  possessed  him, 

Yo  no  naci  sino  para  quereros; 

mi  alma  os  ha  cortado  a  su  medida, 

por  abito  del  alma  misma  os  quiero; 

(lines  9-11) 

and  if  he  is  absent  from  her,  life  is  not  life: 

Sefiora  mia,  si  yo  de  vos  ausente 
en  esta  vida  turo  y  no  me  muero, 
pareceme  que  offendo  a  lo  que  os  quiero 
y  la  bien  de  que  gozava  en  ser  presente. 
(Son.  IX,  1-4) 

The    marriage    of    Dona    Isabel    to 
Antonio  de  Fonseca  late  in  1528  or  early 
in  1529  brought  a  radical  change  in  Gar- 
cilaso's  attitude  toward  her.    If,  before,  his 
pleas  were  unavailing  in  the  presence  of 
her   scorn   or   indifference,    there   was   at 
least  the  hope  that  she  might  have  mercy 
on  his  suffering.    Now  her  love  was  doubly 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


195 


impossible.  Although  the  feelings  of  the 
poet  are  most  clearly  depicted  in  the  pro- 
tests of  Salicio  in  Egloga  I,  there  are  nimier- 
ous  evidences  of  his  dejection  in  his  earlier 
verses.  Peculiarly  appealing  is  the  close 
of  the  sonnet  in  which  he  reviews  the 
course  of  his  love: 

Y  sobre  todo,  faltame  la  lumbre 
de  la  esperanga,  con  que  andar  solia 
por  la  oscura  region  de  vuestro  olvido. 
(Son.  XXXVIII,  12-14) 

In  the  summer  of  1529  Garcilaso  made 
his  first  visit  to  Italy  in  the  suite  of  Charles 
V.  But  the  memory  of  Doiia  Isabel  was 
still  harassing  him;  from  a  foreign  shore 
he  cries  his  despair: 

La  mar  en  medio  y  tierras  he  dexado 
de  quanto  bien,  cuytado,  yo  tenia. 

(Son.  Ill,  1-2) 

Perhaps  it  was  at  this  time  that  he  first 
read  some  of  the  verses  of 'Dante  in  the 
Florentine  edition  of  the  Rime  antiche  of 
1527  and  developed  the  Hnes  of  the  canzone, 
"Donne  ch'avete  intelletto  d'amore," 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


196 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Degli  occhi  suoi,  come  ch'ella  gli  muova, 
Escono  spirti  d'amore  infiammati, 
Che  fieron  gli  occhi  a  qual,  che  allor  gli 

guati, 
E  passan  si  che'l  cor  ciascun  ritrova,"i 

into  the  sonnet: 

De  aquella  vista  pura  y  excelente. 
salen  espiritus  vivos  y  encendidos, 
y  siendo  por  mis  ojos  recibidos 
me  passa  hasta  donde  el  mal  se  siente. 
(VIII,  1-4). 

With  his  return  to  Spain  in  the  spring  of 
1530,  the  poet  found  himself  once  more  a 
victim  of  his  passion.    The  struggle  through 
which  he  passed  is  portrayed  in  Cancion 
IV. 2     As  a  poem,  the  composition  seems 
to-day  over  subtle  and  artificial,  with  its 
allegory  of  the  conflict  of  Reason  and  De- 
sire.   But  there  are  moments  of  real  feeling, 
and  of  especial  interest  in  his  confession 
of  acquiescence  in  his  fate: 

Que  es  cierto  que  he  venido  a  tal  extreme, 
que  del  grave  dolor  que  huyo  y  temo 
me  hallo  algunas  vezes  tan  amigo 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

197 

que  en  medio  del,  si  buelvo  a  ver  la  vida 
de  libertad,  la  juzgo  por  perdida, 
y  maldigo  las  oras  y  moment  os, 
gastadas  mal  en  libres  pensamientos. 

dines  114-120) 

There  is  a  passage  in  Egloga  II,  in  which 
Nemoroso     is     proclaiming     the     diverse 
powers  of  Severo,  which  forms  a  pendant 
to   these    lines.      Xemoroso,    relating   his 
visit  to  the  latter,  says  that  at  first  Severo 
was  silent, 

Y  liiego  con  boz  clara  y  espedida 
solto  la  rienda  al  verso  numeroso, 
en  alabanga  de  la  libre  vida. 

Yo  estava  embevecido  y  vergongoso, 
atento  al  son,  y  viendome  del  todo 
fuera  de  libertad  y  de  leposo. 

No  se  dezir,  sino  que  en  fin,  de  modo 
aplico  a  mi  dolor  la  medicina, 
quel  mal  desarraygo  de  todo  en  todo. 

Quede  3-0  entonces  como  quien  camina 
de  noehe  por  caminos  enrriscados, 
sin  ver  donde  la  senda  0  passo  inclina; 

mas  venida  la  luz  y  contemplados, 
del  peligro  passado  nace  un  miedo 
que  dexa  los  cabellos  herizados. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

198 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Assi  estava  mirando  atento  y  quedo 
aquel  peligro  yo  que  atras  dexava, 
que  nunca  sin  temor  pensallo  puedo. 

Tras  esto,  luego  se  me  presentava 
sin  antojos  delante  la  vileza 
de  lo  que  antes  ardiendo  desseava. 

Assi  euro  mi  mal  con  tal  destreza 
el  sabio  viejo,  como  te  he  contado, 
que  bolvio  el  alma  a  su  naturaleza 
y  solto  el  corazon  aherrojado. 

(lines  1104-28) 

It  it  not  necessary  to  attach  too  literal 
a   significance   to   Nemoroso's   confession, 
but  it  seems  certain  that  the  poet  felt  a 
sort  of  spiritual  discomfort  at  his  situa- 
tion, a  shame  which  is  also  manifested  in 
another  passage  of  Cancion  IV: 

De  los  cabellos  de  oro  fue  texido 
la  red  que  fabrieo  mi  sentimiento, 
do  mi  razon,  rebuelta  y  enredada, 
con  gran  verguenga  suya  y  corrimiento, 
sub j  eta  al  apetito  y  sometida, 
en  publico  adulterio  fue  tomada, 
del  cielo  y  de  la  tierra  contemplada. 
(lines  101-7) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

199 

At  least  we  may  be  sure  that  he  reached  a 
crisis  in  his  relations  with  Dona  Isabel,  for 
the  few  subsequent  references  to  her  prior 
to  her  death  are  almost  conventional  and 
his  misfortune  in  losing  her  is  coupled  with 
another  misfortune,   his  loss  of  the  Em- 
peror's favor.     Cancion  III,  the  most  per- 
fect of  his  songs  in  the  Petrarchan  style, 
turns    upon    this    double    theme.      Apart 
from  its  exquisiteness  of  form  this  cancidn 
is  significant  for  the  glimpse  it  offers,  one 
of  the  few  in  his  works,  of  the   character 
of  the  poet,  in  the  finely  defiant  lines, 

iY  al  fin  de  tal  Jornada 
presumen  de  espantarme? 
Sepan  que  ya  no  puedo 
morir,  sino  sin  miedo; 
que  aun  nunca  que  temer  quiso  dexarme 
la  des Ventura  mia, 

que  el  bien  y  el  miedo  me  quito  en  un  dia, 

(lines46-52) 

Closely  akin,  in  their  atmosphere  of  gloom 
at  the  reversal  of  fortune  are  two  sonnets 
(IV  and  XXVI),  ahnost  identical  in  their 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

200 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

content  and  phraseology,  each  closing  with 
a  renewed  expression  of  desire  to  see  once 
more  his  beloved. 

The  news  of  Dona  Isabel's  death  must 
have  reached  the  poet  at  Naples  early  in 
1533.    All  his  old  love  for  her  was  rekindled, 
and  to  it  and  to  his  grief  he  gave  vent  in 
the  noblest  of  his  works.  Eclogue  I,  and  in 
a  sonnet,  the  most  perfect  of  his  shorter 
poems  in  the  delicate  harmony  of  emotion 
and  expression: 

iO  dulces  prendas,  por  mi  mal  falladas, 
dulces  y  alegres,  quando  Dios  queria! 
Juntas  estays  en  la  memoria  mia, 
y  con  ella  en  mi  muerte  conjuradas. 

iQuien  me  dixera,  quando  las  passadas 
oras  que  en  tanto  bien  por  vos  me  via, 
que  me  aviades  de  ser  en  algun  dia 
con  tan  grave  dolor  representadas  ? 

Pues  en  una  ora  junto  me  llevastes 
todo  el  bien  que  por  terminos  me  distes, 
llevame  junto  el  mal  que  me  dexastes; 

sino,  sospechare  que  me  pusistes 
en  tantos  bienes,  porque  desseastes 
verme  morir  entre  memorias  tristes.     (X) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

■ 
LIFE     AND     WORKS 

201 

In  April  he  was  in  Spain  on  a  mission  of 
the  Emperor  from  the  Vice-roy  of  Naples. 
Perhaps  it  was  on  this  visit  that  he  visited 
her  tomb  and  wrote  the  touching  sonnet: 

iO  hado  esecutivo  en  mis  dolores, 
como  senti  tus  leyes  tan  rigurosas! 
Cortaste  el  arbol  con  manos  daiiosas 
y  esparziste  por  tierra  fruta  y  fiores. 

En  poco  espacio  yazen  los  amores 
y  toda  la  esperanga  de  mis  cosas, 
tornados  en  cenizas  desdefiosas 
y  sordas  a  mis  quexas  y  clamores. 

Las  lagrimas  que  en  esta  sepultura 
se  vierten  oy  en  dia  y  se  vertieron 
recibe,  aunque  sin  fruta  alia  te  sean; 

hasta  que  aquella  eterna  noche  escura 
me  cierre  aquestos  ojos  que  te  vieron, 
dexandome  con  otros  que  te  vean.    (XXV) 

Once  more  in  his  last  work,  Eclogue  III, 
he  refers  to  her  death  with  a  tenderness 
and  pathos  which  reveal  the  healing  touch 
of  time,   in  his  description  of  the  scene 
embroidered  by  the  nymph  Nise  (lines  225- 
264). 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

202 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

The  love  of  Garcilaso  for  Isabel   Freire 
permeates    his    work    from    beginning    to 
end ;  it  is  she  who  inspired  all  of  his  verses 
which  still  have  power  to  move  and  charm 
his  readers.     She  is  no  disembodied  crea- 
tion of  the  poet's  fancy,  but  a  woman  of 
flesh   and   blood,    desired   ardently,   reck- 
lessly, as  men  desire  women.    And  although 
that  desire  was  never  fulfilled,  perhaps  be- 
cause it  was  never  fulfilled,  there  burns  in 
his  verses  to  her  an  unwaning  intensity 
which  thrills  you  like  the  song  of  a  meadow- 
lark  at  dusk.     Even  in  death  he  reaches 
out  to  her,  not  as   Dante  to  an  angelic 
Beatrice   nor    as    Petrarch    to    a    rarefied 
Laura,  but  as  to  his  eternal  heart's  desire. 
Perhaps  the  most  human  touch  in  all  his 
work  is  this  infinite  yearning  for  an  ulti- 
mate union  with  her,  expressed  in  the  clos- 
ing lines  of  the  sonnet  written  at  her  tomb 
and  with  even   more   beauty   at   the    end 
of  Nemoroso's  lament: 

Divina  Elisa,  pues  agora  el  cielo 
con  immortales  pies  pisas  y  mides, 
y  su  mudanga  ves,  estando  queda, 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

203 

ipor  que  de  mi  te  olvidas  y  no  pides 

que  se  apresure  el  tiempo  en  que  este  velo 

rompa  del  cuerpo  y  verme  libre  pueda  ? 

Y  en  la  tercera  rueda 

contigo  mano  a  mano 

busquemos  otro  llano, 

busquemos  otros  monies  y  otros  rios, 

otros  valles  floridos  y  sombrios, 

donde  descansar  y  siempre  pueda  verte 

ante  los  ojos  mios, 

sin  miedo  y  sobresalto  de  perderte. 

(Egl.  I,  394-407) 

In  his    Ode  to  Tilesio,   Garcilaso  hints 
at  the  loneliness  which  the  first  days  of 
his  exile  in  Naples  had  brought,  but  de- 
clares  that   that   stage   has   passed,   that 
once  more  his  lips  are  moved  to  sing  the 
beauties   of  his   new   surroundings.     The 
influence  of  his  stay  in  Naples  is  manifested 
in  many  ways  in  his  work.    With  the  new 
contact  with  the  poets  and  the  literatiu-e 
of  the  Neapolitan  court,  he  enlarged  his 
conception  of  the  lyric  and  from  now  on, 
we  find  other  influences  in  his  verse  than 
that  of  Petrarch. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

204 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

The  writings  of  Sannazaro  and  the  ex- 
ample of  Tansillo  aroused  his  latent  love 
of  nature.     In  all  the  early  works  written 
in  Spain  there  is  only  one  glimpse  of  the 
natural  world,  and  that  is  but  a  gloomy 
prospect : 

Los  arboles  presento 
entre  las  duras  penas 
por  testigo  de  quanto  os  he  encubierto. 
(Cane.  II,  26-28) 

Already,  however,  in  the  cancion  written 
during  his  confinement  on  the  island  in  the 
Danube  we  find  a  brief  evidence  of  delight 
in  out -doors. 

Do  siempre  primavera 

parece  en  la  verdura 

sembrada  de  las  floras; 

hazen  los  ruysenores 

renovar  el  plazer  o  la  tristura 

con  sus  blandas  querellas, 

que  nunca  dia  ni  noche  cessan  dellas. 

(Cane.  Ill,  7-13) 

With  his  establishment  in  Naples  the  por- 
trayal of  the  beauties  of  nature  becomes  a 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

205 

characteristic  of  his  style,  an  idealized,  con- 
ventionalized nature,  it  is  true,  but  one 
of  infinite  charm. 

A  second  phase  of  his  work  in  Naples 
is  the  introduction  of  themes  from  class- 
ical mytholog}^  as  the  subject  of  his  son- 
nets and  canciones.     More  important  still 
as  a  sign  of  growth  is  the  heightened  plastic 
and   pictorial   power,   the   atmosphere   of 
assurance,   of  complete  mastery  of  form 
which    atones    in  his  later  work  for  the 
lack  of  emotional  sincerity.     All  of  these 
qualities  are  evident  in  the  sonnet, 

Hermosas  nymphas,  que  en  el  no  metidas 
contentas  habitays  en  las  moradas 
de  reluzientes  piedras  fabricadas, 
y  en  colunnas  de  \'idrio  sostenidas, 

agora  esteys  labrando  embevescidas 
0  texendo  las  telas  delicadas; 
agora  unas  con  otras  apartadas, 
contandoos  los  amores  y  las  vidas; 
dexad  un  rato  la  labor,  algando 
vuestras  rubias  cabegas  a  mirarme, 
y  no  OS  detendreys  mucho  segun  ando, 
que,    o   no   podreys   de   lastima    escu- 
charme, 

I 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

206 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

o  convertido  en  agua  aqui  llorando, 
podreys  alia  de  espacio  consolarme.    (XI) 

The  scene  and  its  details  are  derived  from 
a  canzone  (XI)  of   Sannazaro  and  from  a 
passage  in  the  Arcadia;^  the  purpose  of  the 
poem  is  no  longer  to  reveal  a  state  of  mind, 
but   to   create   a   thing   of   beauty,    com- 
pounded of  imaginary  details,  it  is  true, 
yet   achieving   its   purpose   by   the   mere 
color   and  music   of  its   phrases.      For   a 
moment  in  the  closing  lines  there  is  a  sign 
of  hesitancy,   of  reversion   to  the  earlier 
style,    with    its    lament    and    paradoxical 
alternatives,  a  weakness  found  also  in  the 
sonnet  on  the  Orpheus  story  (XV).     But 
we  find  the  poet  wholly  emancipated  in  the 
sonnet: 

A  Daphne  ya  los  bragos  le  crecian 
y  en  luengos  ramos  bueltos  se  mostravan; 
en  verdes  hojas  vi  que  se  tornavan 
los  eabellos  quel  oro  escurezian. 

De  aspera  corteza  se  cubrian 
los  tiernos  miembros  que  aun  bullendo 
estavan; 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

207 

los  blandos  pies  en  tierra  se  hincavan 
y  en  torcidas  rayzes  se  bolvian. 

Aquel  que  fue  la  causa  de  tal  dafio 
a  fuerga  de  llorar  crecer  hazia 
este  arbol,  que  con  lagrimas  regava. 

iO  miserable  est  ado!    iO  mal  tamano! 
que  con  llorarla  crezca  cada  dia 
la  causa  y  la  razon  por  que  llorava.  (XIII) 

His  story  is  derived  from  Ovid,  not  from 
Petrarch.    Out  of  a  time  worn  myth  he  has 
refashioned  a  work  of  real  beauty.     And 
this  same  mastery  of  form  and  matter  is 
visible  in  the  sonnets  on  Spring  (XXIII) 
and  on  Leander  (XXIX). 

Unquestionably  his  most  perfect  work 
in  this  style  is  his  last  cancidn,  or  as  it  is 
properly  called,  the   "Ode  to  the  Flower 
of  Gnido."     The  form,  is  a  new  one,  bor- 
rowed from  Bernardo  Tasso,  who  had  in- 
vented this  five-line  stanza  in  an  effort  to 
reproduce   the   rhythms   of   Horace.      Its 
atmosphere    is    wholly    Horatian.      These 
verses,   written  to  further  the   suit   of  a 
friend  for  some  fair  lady's  hand  or  favor, 
deal  with  the  most  hackneyed  classical  and 
mythological    conventions,  —  the    power 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

208 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

• 

of    Orpheus,    the    lover's    neglect    of    his 
wonted  sports,  and  the  fate  of  Anaxarate. 
But  with  what  finesse  he  has  woven  them 
into  a  fabric  of  delight  !    There  is  little  or 
nothing  to  stir  the  intellect  or  the  imagina- 
tion;   like  the  Odes  of  Horace  the  poem 
appeals  directly  to  the  senses  in  the  suavity 
and  harmony  of  its  cadences,  the  variety  of 
its  diction  and  the  quiet  sense  of  mastery. 
This  group  of  poems  in  the  impersonal 
style  is  followed  by  a  series  of  sormets  which 
centre  about  the  second  phase  of  the  poet's 
amorous    experience,    a   new   passion   for 
some  Neapolitan  lady.    For  the  most  part 
the  sonnets  of  this  group  mark  a  return  to 
the  Petrarchan  style,  or  what  the  sixteenth 
century  conceived  to  be  the   Petrarchan 
style.    The  first  evidence  of  the  new  flame 
comes  in  a  sonnet  (VII)  built  on  a  remin- 
iscence of  the  Horatian  lines : 

Me  tabula  sacer 
votiva  paries  indicat  uvida 
suspendisse  potenti 
vestimenta  maris  deo, 

(Od.  I,  V,  13-16) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

209 

which  testifies  to  his  inability  to  evade  the 
new  danger, 

Mas  del  que  viene  no  podre  valerme. 
Y  en  esto  no  voy  contra  el  juramento, 
que  ni  es  como  los  otros,  ni  en  mi  mano. 

(lines   14-16) 

The  imperious  sway  of  his  desire  is  em-' 
phasized    in    another    sonnet    (XII)    and 
finally  he  confesses  his  submission  in  the 
sonnet  addressed  to  Boscan, 

Sabed  que  en  mi  perfeta  edad  y  armado, 
con  mis  ojos  abiertos,  me  he  rendido 
al  nino  que  sabeys,  ciego  y  desnudo. 

(Son.  XXVIII,  9-12) 

From  the  first  this  episode  in  his  life  seems 
to  have  brought  him  little  joy,  and  finally 
jealousy  came  to  torment  him.    (XXX  and 
XXXI).    Among  the  compositions  in  this 
group  are  two  sonnets  (XVII  and  XVIII) 
which  are  more  markedly  Petrarchan  than 
any  of  his  earlier  work,  the  first  of  the  two 
containing  in  its  second  quatrain  and  first 
tercet  an  actual  translation  of  the  Italian 
original.      Two  others  (XIV  and  XXVII) 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

210 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

apparently    show    reminiscences    of    the 
Catalan  poet,  Ausias  March.     It  is  pos- 
sible, however,  that  the  simile  of  Sonnet 
XIV  which  is  derived  from  March  may 
have  come  through  an  imitation  of  Boscan, 
who  borrowed  the  figure  in  one  of  his  son- 
nets (LXXII,  12-14).    The  second  of  these 
sonnets  (XXVII)  has  been  the  theme  of 
considerable  discussion,  since  it  is  the  only 
sonnet  showing  oxytone  rhymes,  and  also 
because  in  many  manuscripts  another  ver- 
sion, with  parox3rtone  rhymes,  is  attrib- 
uted to  Diego  de  Mendoza.^ 

M.  Morel-Fatio  has  expressed  the  belief 
that  the  rhymes  are  a  proof  that  the  sonnet 
is  not  the  work'  of  Garcilaso,  but  that  of 
Boscan  or  Mendoza.    Menendez  y  Pelayo, 
however,  pointed  out^  that  this  arguigient 
is  invalidated  by  Garcilaso 's  use  of  oxytone 
rhymes  in  Cancion  II,  further  remarking 
that    the    fact    that    the    rhymes    of    the 
Catalan  original  are  oxytone  might  well 
have  influenced  their  use  in  the  imitation. 
A  more  serious  doubt  on  the  authenticity 
of  the  sonnet  is  cast  by  the  uncertainty  as 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  2ii 


to  whether  Garcilaso  was  personally  famil- 
iar with  the  work  of  the  great  Catalan 
imitator  of  Petrarch.  The  only  other 
reminiscence  in  his  writings,  as  we  have 
just  remarked,  may  quite  as  well  have 
come  from  Boscan.  The  latter 's  familiarity 
with  the  poetry  of  his  fellow-countryman 
is  revealed  in  numerous  imitations;  Diego 
de  Mendoza.  too,  frequently  turns  to 
March  for  his  images;  in  fact,  the  simile 
of  Love's  garment,  which  is  the  theme  of 
the  disputed  sonnet,  occurs  in  his  first 
Eclogue.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  the  inclusion  of  this 
sonnet  among  the  compositions  which 
Boscan  had  gathered,  if  not  prepared,  for 
the  press  would  seem  to  warrant  a  belief 
in  its  authenticity.  And  this  belief  is 
further  borne  out  by  the  appearance  of 
another  version  of  the  sonnet  with  paroxy- 
tone  rhymes,  slightly  different  from  the 
version  ascribed  to  Mendoza.  in  a  manu- 
script used  by  El  Brocense  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  edition  of  the  works  of  Gar- 
cilaso.    It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  give 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


212 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

any  final  answer  to  the  question,  but  one 
thing  at  least  is  certain:   all  of  these  three 
versions  are  mutually  dependent  and  in 
no  sense  different  translations  from  a  com- 
mon  Catalan   original,   for  the   simile   of 
Ausias  March  occupies  four  lines  in  one 
of  his  cants  ;^   from  there  it  was  expanded 
into  a  sonnet  by  some  Castilian  author,  at 
first,  no  doubt,  with  oxytone  rhymes,  and 
later  "corrected,"  as  the  reviser  believed, 
with  the  paroxytone  rhymes  which   had 
become  de  rigueur. 

The  expedition  to  Timis  in  1535  in  which 
Garcilaso  took  part  heightened  his  unhap- 
piness  in  his  new  amours.    From  La  Goleta 
he  wrote  once  more  to  Boscan,  telling  him 
of  his  restlessness  (Son.  XXXIII),  and  in 
his  Elegy  II,  also  addressed  to  his  friend, 
he  laments  at  the  effects  which  his  long 
absence   is   sure   to   have,   expressing   his 
fears  in  a  tercet  which  rings  with  a  sincerity 
rare  in  his  later  work: 

Alii  mi  coragon  tuvo  su  nido 

un  tiempo  ya,  mas  no  se  itriste!  agora 

0  si  estara  ocupado  0  desparzido. 

(lines  40-42) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  213 


The  pangs  of  absence  inspire  too  his  sonnet 
on  the  deserted  hound  (XXXVII).  The 
last  scene  in  this  brief  drama  is  depicted 
in  Sonnet  XXXIV:  his  triumphant  eman- 
cipation from  the  yoke  of  Love: 

Gracias  al  cielo  doy  que  ya  del  cuello 
del  todo  el  grave  jnago  he  desasido. 

(lines  1-2) 

It  is  idle  to  speculate  who  among  the 
fair  ladies  of  the  XeapoHtan  court  the  ob- 
ject of  this  love  may  have  been.  His  own 
answer  is  final: 

si  preguntado 
soy  lo  demas,  en  lo  demas  soy  mudo. 

(Son.  XXVIII,  13-14.) 

As  a  whole  the  sonnets  of  this  group  are 
not  of  high  merit,  —  conventional  exer- 
cises in  the  spinning  of  conceits  which 
degenerate  at  times,  as  in  Sonnet  XXXI, 
into  an  allegorization  of  the  very  conceits. 
Lacking  as  they  do,  the  warmth  of  sin- 
cerity which  redeemed  his  first  essays,  and 
the  polished  elegance  of  his  purely  conven- 
tional   classical    reminiscences,    they    add 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


214 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

little  to  his   literary   credit.      If  his  suit 
depended  upon  them,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  it  was  unavailing  or  that  some  petty 
rhymster  of  the  NeapoHtan  school  carried 
off  the  lady,  together  with  the  poet's  palm. 
There  remain  a  number  of  occasional 
sonnets,  written  to  his  friends  to  celebrate 
some  personal  experience  or  to  sing  some 
special   hymn    of   praise.      Such    are   the 
rather   pompous   epitaph  written   for   the 
tomb  of  his  brother,  Fernando  de  Guzman, 
who  had  died  during  the  siege  of  Naples 
(XVI);   the  sonnet  to  JuHo,  perhaps  Giu- 
lio  Cesare  Caracciolo,  on  the  occasion  of 
a  departure  from  Naples  (XIX);   and  the 
account  of  his  being  wounded  in  Africa, 
addressed  to  Mario  Galeota  (XXXV).  Two 
of  these  sonnets  are  purely  eulogistic  (XXI 
and  XXIV),   directed  to  his  friend-  and 
patron,  Don  Pedro  de  Toledo,  and  to  Dofia 
Maria  de  la  Padula,  to  whom  so  many  of 
his    Italian   contemporaries   paid   tribute. 
One  sonnet  in  particular  is  interesting,  as 
showing  a  slight  tendency  to  sarcastic  rail- 
lery.    (XXII).     The  poet  goes  to  visit  a 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

215 

lady,  who  discovers  his  eyes  resting  with 
undue  insistency  upon  her  bosom,  and  who, 
hastening  to  remedy  the  neglect  which  made 
possible  his  offence,  scratches  herself  with 
her  breast-pin.     Whereupon  the  poet  ob- 
serves, quoting    for  the  only  time  in  his 
works  a  line  of  Petrarch  in  the  original: 

non  esservi  passato  ollra  la  gonna. 
The  whole  scene  offers  a  striking  similarity 
with  that   portrayed  in  the   anecdote  of 
Luis  Zapata,  in  which  Garcilaso  is  repre- 
sented as  making  a  similar  quick  retort  with 
a  verse  from  from  Petrarch's  Trionfi.^ 

These  fugitive  works  rank  well  with  the 
other  works  of  their  type  written  by  his 
contemporaries.      Some    of   them   possess 
that    quiet    geniality    which    marks    his 
mjrthological  verses;    others  even  have  a 
faint  trace  of  personality.     But  their  chief 
value  today  is  the  evidence  they  offer  of 
some  of  the  poet's  friendships  and  intima- 
cies and  the  slight  information  they  afford 
of  actual  events  in  his  life. 

Certain  other  works  are  found  attributed 
to  Garcilaso  either  by  the  manuscripts  in 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

216 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

which  they  appear  or  by  their  editors.   The 
first  of  these  are  the  two  sonnets  in  the 
Cancionero  Gayangos,  first  mentioned  as 
the  work  of  Garcilaso  by  Knapp^  and  pub- 
lished as  his  by  Vollmoller.^     Neither  of 
the  sonnets  bears  the  author's  name  in  the 
manuscript   and  the   attribution   to   Gar- 
cilaso was  made  solely  because  they  occur 
between    authentic    compositions    of    the 
Toledan  poet.    Metrical  reasons,  however, 
make  it  most  improbable  that  they  are  his 
work;  The  first  of  the  sonnets  ("i  0  celos  de 
amor,    terrible    freno!")    has    eight  lines 
which  contain  ten  or  twelve  syllables  and 
there  are  two  faulty  rhymes;    the  second 
("El  mal  en  mi   ha   hecho   su  gimiento.") 
has  six    lines  of  ten   or  twelve  syllables, 
three   faulty   rhymes,  and  moreover,  two 
oxytone  rhymes  in  the  tercets.      It  is  in- 
credible that   Garcilaso,  even   in  his  first 
experiments,  should   have  showed  such  a 
consistent    ignorance    of    the    form    and 
movement  of  the  sonnet.      Added  to  this 
is  a  more  convincing  argument.     The  first 
of  these  sonnets  is  a  word  for  word  trans- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

217 

lation  of  a  sonnet  of  Sannazaro,    "0 
gelosia,  d'amanti  orribil  freno."  (No. 
XXin)^     Now  there  is  no  evidence  that 
Garcilaso  knew  the  works    of    Sannazaro 
before  his  establishment  in  Naples  in  1532; 
at  least,  not  until  then  do  we  find  any 
reminiscences  of  the  Italian  master  in  his 
verses.     That  he  could  have  written  this 
translation  at  a  time  when  he  was  compos- 
ing such  finished  hendecasyllables  as  those 
of  Sonnet  XI,  for  example,  is  beyond  the 
realm  of  possibility. 

Two  other  sonnets  appear  in  a  manu- 
script   of   the    Biblioteca    del    Palacio   in 
Madrid,  imder  the  name  of  Garcilaso  de 
la  Vega  and  have  been  published  by  Sr. 
D.  Ramon  Menendez  Pidal.-     The  manu- 
script is  largely  composed  of  works  written 
between  1550  and  1554  and  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  Garcilaso  who  is  the 
author  is  the  poet's  son  of  the  same  name. 
It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  first  of 
these  sonnets  treats  of   a   theme   already 
found  among  the  copJas  of  our  poet,  the 
death  of  Dido.^ 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

218 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

} 

The  thirty-eight  sonnets   and  the   five 
canciones  remain,  then,  the  total  of  Gar- 
cilaso's   Canzoniere.     Were  they  his  only 
compositions   we   should   be   indebted    to 
him   for   sharing   in   the    creation   of   the 
sonnet  and  cancion  in  Castilian  and  for 
perfecting  the  former  into  a  consummate 
work   of  artistic   expression.     We   should 
also  owe  to  his  single  example  the  trans- 
planting of  the  ode  form  of  the  elder  Tasso 
into  Spanish  verse,  where  it  has  enjoyed 
a  continued  popularity,  which  it  never  at- 
tained in  Italian,  and  became  the  medium 
for  some  of  Luis  de  Leon's  noblest  poems. 
Apart  from  his  distinction  as  an  innovator, 
in  the  shorter  lyric  forms  Garcilaso  is  not 
preeminently  great,  in  fact  is  inferior  to 
many  of  his  Italian  contemporaries  whose 
work  is  now  wellnigh  forgotten.     But  oc- 
casionally even  here  he  attains  that  per- 
fection of  form  which  is  an  earnest  of  the 
power  which  was  destined  to  find  fuller 
expansion  in  his  longer  poems. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS         219 

2.      THE    ELEGIES 

The  two  Elegies  of  Garcilaso  were  writ- 
ten in  the  same  period,  immediately  after 
his  return  from  the  campaign  in  Tunis  in 
the  simimer  of  1535.    The  first.  "Al  duque 
de  Alva  en  la  muerte  de  D.  Bernaldino  de 
Toledo,  su  hermano,"  is  properly  an  elegy 
in  the  classic  sense  of  the  word,  a  funereal 
poem.    Since  it  offers  the  most  noteworthy 
example  of  Garcilaso 's  methods  of  direct 
and  indirect  imitation,  it  deserv^es  a  de- 
tailed examination.    In  writing  this  lament 
to  his  patron  and  friend,  the  Duke  of  Alba, 
the  poet  used  as  his  principal  model  a  Latin 
poem  by  Girolamo  Fracastoro,  dedicated 
to  Gianbattista  Turriano  of  \^erona  to  com- 
memorate the  death  of  his  brother.  Mar- 
cantonio   Turriano.      But   in   addition   to 
this  work,  he  had  in  mind  two  other  poems 
written  imder  similar  circimistances,  the 
first    the    anonymous    Latin    elegy,    "Ad 
Liviam  Augustam,  de  morte  Drusi  Neronis 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

220 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

filii  eius,"  which  was  printed  in  the  1471 
edition  of  Ovid's  works,  and  which,  attrib- 
uted to  C.   Pedo  Albinovanus,  was  long 
reprinted  among  the  works  of  the  Latin 
elegaic  poet;   the  second,  an  elegia  of  Ber- 
nardo Tasso,  dedicated  to  Bernardino  Rota 
on  the  death  of  his  brother  and  pubHshed 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  Amori  in  1534. 
While  these  three  works  are  responsible  for 
the  general  plan  and  for  most  of  the  details 
of  Garcilaso's  poem,  in  the  few  brief  pas- 
sages which  he  interpolated  we  find  other 
reminiscences  of  his  reading,  images  and 
phrases  which  recall    Virgil,  Horace,    Pe- 
trarch and  Ariosto. 

The    first    part    of    the    Elegy    follows 
Fracastoro  very  closely,  at  times  translat- 
ing the  original,  at  times  offering  a  freer 
paraphrase =1 

Etsi  egomet  tanti  casu  perculsus  amici 
solamen  nostris  discuperem  lacrimis, 

ne  mea  perpetuo  manarent  lumina  fletu 
pergeret  aut  tantus  urere  corda  dolor, 

attamen,  ut  mi  animi  valuit  concedere, 
amaror, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS     i     221 


istaec  moesta  tibi  carmina  persolvi, 
quo  fortasse  meis  consolarere  Camoenis, 
si  miseros  quidquam  Musa  levare  potest, 
(lines  1-8) 

begins  Fracastoro,  and  Garcilaso's  version 
is: 

Aunque  este  grave  caso  aya  tocado 
con  tanto  sentimiento  el  alma  mia 
que  de  consuelo  estoy  necessitado, 

con  que  de  su  dolor  mi  fantasia 
se  descargasse  un  poco  y  se  acabasse 
de  mi  contino  Uanto  la  porfia, 

quise,  pero,  provar  si  me  bastasse 
el  ingenio  a  escrivirle  algun  consuelo, 
estando  qual  estoy,  que  aprovechasse, 

para  que  tu  reziente  desconsuelo 
la  f  uria  mitigasse,  si  las  musas 
pueden  un  coragon  al^ar  del  suelo. 

(lines  1-12) 

The  following  lines  of  the  original  are 
treated  in  freer  fashion,  with  a  change  of 
order : 

Ac  ne  tu  lacrimas  pauUatim  totus  abires 
liquitur  ut  pluvio  facta  pruina  Xoto, 

quandoquidem  cari  fato  te  fratris  acerbo  est 
rumor  in  extrema  vivere  tristitia, 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


222 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

nee  iam  posse  quietis  habere,  aut  commoda 
somni, 
sed  cedente  die,  sed  redeunte  queri, 
(lines  9-14) 

becomes: 

Y  poner  fin  a  las  querellas  que  usas, 
con  que  de  Pindo  ya  las  moradoras 
se  muestran  lastimadas  y  confusas; 

que,  segun  he  sabido,  ni  a  las  oras 
que  el  sol  mue^tra,  ni  en  el  mar  se  asconde, 
de  tu  lloroso  estado  no  me j oras; 

antes,  en  el  permaneciendo,  donde 
quiera  que  estas,  tus  ojos  siempre  banas 
y  el  llanto  a  tu  dolor  assi  responde, 

que  temo  ver  desechas  tus  entranas 
en  lagrimas,  como  al  lluvioso  viento 
se  derrite  la  nieve  en  las  montanas. 

(lines  13-24). 

The  thought  of  the  line  thirteen  of  the 
original   is   expanded  in  the   four  follow- 
ing tercets: 

Si  acaso  el  trabajado  pensamiento 
en  el  comun  reposo  se  adormece, 
por  tornar  al  dolor  con  nuevo  aliento, 

en  aquel  breve  sueno  te  aparece 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  223 


la  imagen  amarilla  del  hermano 
que  de  la  dulce  vida  desfallece; 

y  tu,  tendiendo  la  piadosa  mano, 
provando  a  levantar  el  cuerpo  amado, 
levantas  solamente  el  ayre  vano; 

y  del  dolor  el  sueiio  desterrado, 
con  ansia  vas  buscando  el  que  partido 
era  ya  con  el  sueno  y  alongado; 

(lines  25-36) 

by  the  inclusion  of  an  idea  derived  from 
the  Elegy  Ad  Liviam:^ 

Et  modo  per  somnos  agitaris  imagine  falsi, 

teque  tuo  Drusum  credis  habere  sinu  ? 
Et   subito    tentasque    manu,    sperasque  re- 
ceptum; 
quaeris  et  in  vacui  parte  priore  tori  ? 
(hues  325-8) 

The  long  comparison  of  Lampetie's  grief, 
developed  in  the  following  tercets  (lines 
3  7-5  7)  J  is  based  closely  on  Fracastoro  (lines 
15-24),  with  an  interesting  evasion  of  the 
formal  "septem  noctes,  septem  dies,"  (Hnes 
19-20)  by  the  vaguer,  more  modem  phrase, 
"O  quantas  vezes  .  .  .  Y  quantas  otras 
.    .    ."     (lines  51-55).     The  picture  of  the 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


224 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

intimacy  which  existed .  between  the  two 
brothers  (lines  58-75)  is  much  more  loosely 
connected  with  the  Latin;   there  is  even  a 
Petrarchan  simile  introduced, 

como  en  luziente  de  cristal  coluna, 
que  no  encubre  de  quanto  se  avezina 
a  su  biva  pureza,  cosa  alguna,  (lines  73-75), 

recalling  the  image: 

dinanzi  una  colonna 
cristallina,  et  iv'entro  ogni  pensero 
scritto,  e  for  tralucea  si  chiaramente 
che  mi  fea  lieto  e  sospirar  sovente. 

(Canz.  XXV,  27-30) 

The  lament  at  the  emptiness  of  worldly 
success   in   the    succeeding   tercets    (lines 
76-90)  is  translated  from  Fracastoro.     At 
this   point,   the   latter   had   introduced   a 
reference  to  the  death  of  another  friend, 
Cotta;   Garcilaso  has  replaced  it  with  two 
tercets,  displaying  keenly  his  own  bitter- 
ness at  his  life  : 

iQue  se  saca  de  aquesto?  iAlguna  gloria? 
^Algunos  premios  0  agradecimiento? 
Sabralo  quien  ley  ere  nuestra  historia. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


225 


Verase  alii,  que  como  polvo  al  viento, 
assi  se  deshara  nuestra  fatiga, 
ante  quien  se  enderega  nuestro  intento. 
(lines  91-96). 

From  this  point  on,  Garcilaso  departs 
from  the  close  imitation  of  Fracastoro,  al- 
though the  general  lines  are  still  followed. 
After  a  brief  passage  picturing  the  futility 
of  human  hopes  and  the  beauty  which  Don 
Bemaldino  revealed  even  in  death,  he 
turns  his  sympathies  to  the  mother  and 
sisters  of  the  dead  youth.  It  is  probable 
that  the  thought  was  suggested  by  the 
portrayal  of  Li  via 's  grief  in  the  eleg}^  dedi- 
cated to  her,  and  the  references  there  to 
the  other  members  of  the  family  of  Drusus, 
but  his  description  of  the  frenzy  of  their 
grief  in  the  lines, 

a  todas  las  contemplo  desparziendo 
de  su  cabello  luengo  el  fino  oro, 
al  qual  ultraje  y  dano  estan  haziendo, 
(lines  139-41) 

is  apparently  a  reminiscence  of  Ariosto, 
pereosse  il  seno  e  si  straccio  la  stola, 
e  fece  all'aureo  erin  danno  e  dispetto. 

(Orlando  furioso,  V,  60,  3-4) 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


226 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

The  introduction  of  the  river -god  and 
his  nymphs  (lines  142-80)  goes  back  to 
the  elegy  Ad  Liviam,  from  which  Fracas- 
toro's  use  of  the  same  device  probably  de- 
pends. Garcilaso  has,  however,  added  cer- 
tain details :  Tormes  issues  from  his  stream 
to  lie  upon  the  sands;  the  nymphs  are 
charged  with  the  special  function  of  con- 
soling the  mother,  and  presently  a  wanton 
rout  of  satyrs,  fauns  and  nymphs  are  intro- 
duced to  divert  the  troubled  spirit  of  Don 
Fernando.  Turning  now  to  the  latter,  the 
poet  heartens  him  with  an  appeal  to  his 
distinguished  position  in  life  and  his  obli- 
gation to  deport  himself  with  Stoic  in- 
difference in  the  presence  of  misfortune. 
The  argument  which  he  employs  to  dis- 
courage further  lamentation,  namely :  that 
the  great  heroes  and  heroines  of  mythology 
eventually  dried  their  tears,  is  curiously 
derived. 

The  elegy  Ad  Liviam  had  cited  the  ex- 
ample of  Priam's  grief  at  the  death  of 
Hector;  Fracastoro  had  begim  his  list  of 
examples  with  that  of  Orpheus.  Garci- 
laso uses  the  comparison  with  Priam, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

227 

No  fue  el  troyano  principe  llorado 
siempre  del  viejo  padre  dolorido, 
ni  siempre  de  la  madre  lamentado; 

antes,  despues  del  cuerpo  redimido 
con  lagrimas  humildes  y  con  oro, 
que  fue  del  fiero  Achilles  concedido, 

y  reprimiendo  el  lamentable  choro 
del  frigio  llanto,  dieron  fin  al  vano 
y  sin  provecho  sentimiento  y  lloro, 

(lines  214-222) 
but  in  language  which  plainly  recalls  the 
Horatian  stanza, 

At  non  ter  aevo  functus  amabilem 
ploravit  omnes  Antilochum  senex 
annos,  nee  inpubem  parentes 
Troilon  aut  Phrygiae  sorores 
flevere  semper.     (Odes,  I,  IX,  13-18) 

His  second  example,   of  the   grief  which 
Venus   overcame,   is  translated  from  the 
elegy    of    Bernardo    Tasso/    of    which    it 
preserves  the  gracefulness  and  charm. 

Having  demonstrated  the  folly  of  exces- 
sive grief,  the  poet  turns  to  the  thought  of 
the  immortaHty  of  the  departed,  picking 
up  in  passing  (lines  253-55)  ^  reference  to 
Hercules  on  Mount  Oeta,  derived  from  a 
line  (257)  in  the  elegy  Ad  Liviam.     The 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

228 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

meeting  with  the  father  and  grandfather, 
although  suggested  by  Fracastoro/  is  made 
a  specific  reference  to  Don  Garcia  and  Don 
Fadrique  de  Toledo.     His  picture  of  the 
realm  of  the  blessed  is  distinctly  pagan; 
its  closing  lines  strongly  suggest  Cicero's 
description  in  the  Somnium  Scipionis,  "Tam 
ipsa  terra  ita  mihi  parva  visa  est,  ut  me 
imperii  nostri,  quo  quasi  eius  attingimus, 
paeniteret."  ^     But  in  spite  of  this  classic 
atmosphere,  there  are  tercets  which  recall 
rather  the  Christian  conception  of  Para- 
dise,   with   its   stream   of    Divine    Grace, 
kindling  the  souls  of  the  blessed, 

E  vidi  lume  in  forma  di  riviera, 
fulvido  di  fulgore,  intra  due  rive, 
dipinte  di  mirabil  primavera, 

(Farad.  XXX,  61-63) 
such  as: 

iO  bienaventurado!  que  sin  ira, 
sin  odio,  en  paz  estas,  sin  amor  ciego, 
con  quien  aca  se  muere  y  se  sospira; 

y  en  eterna  holganga  y  en  sossiego 
bives  y  biviras,  quanto  encendiere 
las  almas  del  divino  amor  el  fuego. 

(lines  289-94) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

229 

The  closing  tercets  assume  the  conven- 
tional forms,  but  the  promise  of  the  poet 
to  do  his  part  in  singing  eternal  praise  is 
addressed,   strangely  enough,   not  to  the 
departed,  but  to  Don  Fernando, 

Yo  te  prometo,  amigo,  que  entre  taiito 
que  el  sol  al  mundo  alumbre  y  que  la  escura 
noche  cubra  la  tierra  con  su  manto, 

y  en  tanto  que  los  peces  la  hondura 
humida  habitaran  del  mar  prof  undo, 
y  las  fieras  del  monte  la  espessura, 

se  cantara  de  ti  por  todo  el  mundo, 
que  en  quanto  se  discurre,  nunca  visto 
de  tus  anos  jamas  otro  segundo 
sera,  desdel  Antartico  a  Calisto. 

(lines  298-307) 

The  phraseology  of  the  passage  is  frankly 
Virgilian, 

Dum  iuga  montis  aper,    fluvios  dum  piscis 

amabit, 
dumque  thymo  pascentur  apes,   dum  rore 

cicadae, 
semper   honos   nomenque    tuum   laudesque 

manebunt.                      (Egl.  V,  76-78) 

i 
J 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

230 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

and  the  last  line  is  from  Ariosto, 
tra  quanto  e'n  mezzo  Antartico  e  Calisto. 
(Orlando  fiirioso,  III,  17,  6) 

It  is  important  to  recognize  that  such  a 
process  of  literary  construction,  which  we 
should  to-day  regard  as  mere  pilfering,  far 
from  being  questioned  in  Garcilaso's  gener- 
ation, was  regarded  as  the  canon  of  art. 
Imitation,   to  the  man  of  letters  of  the 
Renaissance,    was    the    supreme    test    of 
genius;    creative  power  was  looked  upon 
with  suspicion.     And  it  must  also  be  re- 
membered that  the  methods  of  education 
of  the  time,  with  the  large  stress  placed 
upon    the    memorization    of    the    classic 
masters,  Virgil,  Ovid,  and  Horace,  and  no 
doubt  continued  in  the  study  of  Petrarch, 
equipped  the  poets  with  an  unusual  famil- 
iarity with  the  master  works  of  the  past. 
Their    minds    were    vast    storehouses    of 
mythological    information     and     classical 
phraseology.     Had  they  striven  to  record 
their   personal   impressions   of   life   or   to 
leave  an  image  of  their  own  emotions,  they 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  231 


could  not  have  failed  to  reflect  the  diction 
with  which  their  minds  were  filled.  The 
more  then,  when  their  effort  was  to  repro- 
duce in  different  form  materials  already- 
employed,  must  we  expect  them  to  show 
their  reading  and  study.  At  their  worst, 
they  produced  but  the  dr\^  dust  of  litera- 
ture; at  their  best  they  created  forms  of 
the  highest  technical  mastery  and  even  of 
enchanting  atmosphere,  like  the  Arcadia 
of  Saimazaro. 

With  such  an  inspiration,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  poem  of  Garcilaso  is,  as 
a  whole,  cold  and  unfeeling;  it  smacks  of 
the  formal  written  exercise.  Occasionally, 
when  the  sentiments  which  he  finds  in  his 
models  awaken  a  sincere  echo  in  his  own 
heart,  as  in  the  passage  in  which  he  refers 
to  the  hardships  of  militar}^  service  and 
the  emptiness  of  its  rewards,  there  is  a 
momentary  ring  of  emotion.  But  the  rest 
awakens  little  sympathy,  gives  little  con- 
solation. In  this  respect,  although  equal 
to  the  works  of  Fracastoro  or  the  elder 
Tasso,  it  is  far  inferior  to  the  elegy  -4^ 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


232 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Liviam.    In  workmanship  it  deserves  higher 
praise;  the  verse  is  fluent,  at  times  melo- 
dious;   the  structure  of  the  poem  is  well 
balanced.    In  spite  of  its  funereal  character, 
the  author  has  ventured  to  relieve  it  by 
the  use  of  lively,  even  sensuous  images, 
giving  it  a  variety,  which,  though  of  ques- 
tionable taste,  as  Herrera  remarked,^  add 
greatly  to  its  artistic  effectiveness. 

If  the  first  Elegy  represents  the  extreme 
example  of  Garcilaso's  imitation  of  foreign 
models,  the  second  may  be  considered  as 
the  best  evidence  of  his  power  of  original 
composition.    In  fact,  none  of  his  works  is 
so  rich  in  its  revelation  of  his  personality, 
none   approaches   so   closely    our   modern 
conception  of  poetic  individuality.    It  was 
undoubtedly  written  before  the  first  Elegy, 
probably,  as  the  poet  states  in  the  opening 
tercet,  at  Trapana  in  Sicily,  on  the  way 
from  Tunis  to  Naples.    Although  the  poem 
is  intitled  an  "elegy,"  it  is  in  reality  an 
"epistola"    or    "capitulo"   in   tercets,    ad- 
dressed to  his  friend  Bcscan. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

233 

The  mention  of  the  company  in  which 
the  poet  finds  himself  leads  at  once  to  a 
bitter  criticism  of  their  aims  and  methods. 
To  Garcilaso,  this  throng  of  courtiers  is 
composed  wholly  of  men  seeking  personal 
advancement;  some  confess  it  openly; 
others  wear  a  pretence  of  virtue  in  their 
service.  This  criticism  of  court  life  is 
peculiarly  significant ;  Garcilaso  had  known 
its  workings  from  the  days  when  Charles 
V  first  arrived  in  Spain;  it  is  perhaps  the 
first  condemnation  of  a  system  which 
eventually  was  to  imdermine  the  life  of 
the  country.  As  for  himself,  he  boasts  that 
he  strives  to  follow  the  golden  mean,  but 
we  know  that  his  whole  life  was  devoted 
to  winning  the  evidence  of  favor,  the  fu- 
tility of  which  he  here  so  boldly  proclaims. 

The  pungent  criticism  of  his  fellows 
seems  to  slip  almost  unconsciously  from 
his  pen;  it  is.  almost  the  only  trace  of 
satire  in  his  work.  And  he  hastens  to 
apologize  in  a  tercet  which  has  been  widely 
quoted,  from  Sa  de  Miranda  to  Lope  de 
Vega, 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

234 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Mas  idonde  me  llevo  la  pluma  mia? 
que  a  satira  me  voy  mi  passo  a  passo, 
y  aquesto  que  os  escrivo  es  elegia. 

(lines  23-25) 

There  follows  an  interesting  revelation 
of  the  conditions  under  which  he  wrote  his 
verses  and  the  solace  he  found  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  Muses, 

Y  assi  en  mitad  de  aquestemonteespesso 
de  las  diver?idades,  me  sostengo 
no  sin  dificultad,  mas  no  por  esso 

dexo  las  musas;   antes  torno  y  vengo 
dellas  al  negociar,  y  variando 
con  ellas  dulcemente  me  entretengo. 

Assi  se  van  las  oras  eriganando, 
assi  del  duro  afan  y  grave  pena 
estamos  algun  ora  descansando. 

(lines  28-36) 

We  shall  find  the  same  thought  renewed  in 
the  last  of  his  works,  Eclogue  III.  The  men- 
tion of  his  verses  leads  his  mind  back  to 
Naples  with  its  memory  of  his  new  love 
there,  a  passage  recalling  the  sonnet  on  the 
same  theme  which  we  have  had  occasion 
already  to  mention. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

235 

The  long  comparison  which  follows,  be- 
tween the  effect  of  absence  on  love  and 
that  of  water  on  fire,  seems  to  have  been 
an  image  of  his  own,  one  of  the  few  original 
fancies  in  his  work.     Though  it  ends  with 
a  somewhat  overdrawn  conclusion,  it  is  a 
sound  comparison,  its  expression  is  convinc- 
ing.    Once  more  the  poet  tiims  to  the 
analysis  of  his  own  situation:   his  military 
life  is  out  of  keeping  with  the  prosecution 
of  his  amorous  suit ;  death  is  his  only  hope ! 
With  a  strangely  ironical  comment,  des- 
tined soon  to  be  fulfilled  in  a  fashion  far 
more  Hteral  than  he  implied,  he  writes,  ap- 
pealing to  the  god  of  war: 

Exercitando  por  mi  mal  tu  officio, 
soy  reduzido  a  terminos  que  muerte 
sera  mi  postrimero  beneficio; 

y  esta  no  permitio  mi  dura  suerte 
que  me  sobreviniesse  peleando, 
de  hierro  traspassado  agudo  y  fuerte. 
(lines  100-105) 

For  a  moment  the  contrast  between  his 
own  situation  and  that  of  Boscan  makes 
him  turn  to  his  friend,  whom  he  pictures 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

1 

236 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  his  leisure  by  the 
sea,  surrounded  by  his  friends,  celebrating 
in  his  verses  his  faithful  wife.     But  the 
very  contrast  makes  his  own  life  seem  more 
wretched, 

Y  como  conduzido  mercenario 
voy  do  fortuna  a  mi  pesar  me  embia. 
sino  a  morir,  que  aqueste  es  voluntario. 
(lines  157-59) 

His  whole  life  has  been  a  vain  pursuit  of 
his  heart's  desires.     So  unchanging  is  his 
ill-fortune  that  wherever  he  turns  his  steps, 
—  and  the  image  he  uses  is  one  of  his 
favorite  classical  figures,  —  fear  and  jeal- 
ousy clutch  his  heart.     As  in  so  many  of 
his  poems,  the  end  of  his  hope  is  death. 
Artistically  the  poem  does  not  rank  with 
many  of  his  works ;  it  is  plainly  improvised ; 
there  is  a  lack  of  logical  coherence.     But 
in  its  freshness  and  originality,  in  its  free- 
dom from  conceits  and  stilted  expressions, 
it  remains  as  one  of  his  most  interesting 
works. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

237 

3.      THE  EPISTLE  TO  BOSCAN. 

The  Epistle  to  Boscan,  Garcilaso's  only 
experiment    in    versos    sueltos,    is    chiefly 
significant  for  its  form,  of  which  we  shall 
speak  in  a  later  chapter.    But  it  is  also  im- 
portant because  of  its  revelation  of  the 
closeness  of  the  ties  which  bound  him  with 
his  Catalan  friend  and  the  influence  which 
this  friendship  had  upon  his  own  life.    The 
ways  were  long  in  the  sixteenth  century 
and  the  solitary  traveler  found  ample  time 
for  reflection.     What  was  more  natural, 
then,  than  that  Garcilaso,  as  he  fared  upon 
his  lonely  journey  back  to  Naples,  should 
have  thought  long  of  the  pleasant  days 
which  he  had  just  spent  with  his  friend  in 
Barcelona  ?      Perhaps    he    had    heard    of 
Aristotle's  discussion  of  friendship  in  the 
Ethics  and  found  his  remarks  borne  out  in 
his  own  experience.    The  greatest  satisfac- 
tion which  he  derives  from  their  friendship 
is  the  consciousness  of  aftection  which  he 
feels  in  his  own  heart. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

238 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Ninguna  cosa  en  mayor  precio  estimo 
ni  me  haze  gustar  del  dulce  estado 
tanto  como  el  amor  de  parte  mia. 

(lines  39-41) 

The  latter  part  of  the  poem  assumes  a 
more  confidential,  personal  tone.    Once  he 
had  foimd  traveling  in  France  a  delight, 
perhaps  that  was  in  1530.    Now  he  regrets 
his  former  praise.     His  woes  are  those  of 
the  modern  tourist: 

Vinos  azedos,  camareras  feas, 
varletes  codiciosos,  malas  postas, 
gran  paga,  poco  argen,  largo  camino. 

(lines  73-76) 

Then,  as  becomes  a  letter -writer,  he  send 
greetings  to  a  common  friend,  with  a  word 
of  banter  at  his  stoutness,  and  signs  his 
place  and  date,  Avignon,  October  12,  1534.^ 
The  poet  himself  disclaims  any  effort  to 
write  in  a  lofty  poetic  style, 

Ni  sera  menester  buscar  estilo 
presto,  distincto,  de  ornamento  puro, 
tal  qual  a  culta  epistola  conviene. 

(lines  5-7) 

'FHISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

239 

In  fact  there  is  hardly  a  poetic  image  in  the 
composition,  unless  it  be  the  conventional 
periphrasis  at  the  close.     It  is  hard  to  see 
how  the  material  gains  by  being  presented 
in  rhythm.      For  Garcilaso's  blank  verse 
is  not  a  form  of  artistic  expression.     Al- 
though  not   inferior   to  Boscan's  similar, 
and  more  lengthy  experiment,  it  is  wholly 
lacking  the  grace  and  variety  which  Juan 
de  Jauregui  succeeded  in  imparting  to  the 
form   in  his  exquisite   translation  of  the 
Aminta.     In  Garcilaso's  hands  the  strong- 
ly marked  iambic  cadence,  more  noticeable 
here  than  in  his  rhymed  verses,  becomes 
monotonous.      It  is  an  exercise,  offering  lit- 
tle ingenuity  or  variety. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

240 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

4.      THE  ECLOGUES. 

To  his  Eclogues,  more  than  to  any  of  his 
other  works,  Garcilaso  owes  his  lasting 
fame.  For  in  that  artificial  form,  so  ap- 
pealing to  a  liighly  conventionalized  society, 
he  found  a  perfect  medium  for  the  expres- 
sion of  the  characteristic  qualities  of  his 
genius:  a  certain  atmosphere  of  melancholy 
regret  at  the  crudities  and  cruelties  of  life 
and  a  splendid  mastery  of  the  forms  of 
harmony. 

The  first  of  the  Eclogues  was  dedicated 
to  his  patron,  Don  Pedro  de  Toledo,  Vice- 
roy of  Naples.  Written  shortly  after  the 
death  of  Isabel  Freire,  it  is  the  outpouring 
of  the  poet's  grief  at  his  double  misfortune, 
Jiis  beloved's  marriage  and  her  untimely 
death.  The  plan  is  simple:  after  a  brief 
tribute  to  his  patron,  the  poet  introduces 
two  shepherds,  Salicio  and  Nemoroso,  who 
sing  their  songs,  one  of  jealous  protest,  the 
other  of  bitter  grief,  and  then  withdraw 
with  their  flocks.     It  is  by  no  means  new, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  241 


for  it  is  precisely  that  followed  by  Virgil 
in  his  Ecloga  A  III,  and  although  the  theme  ; 
of  the  second  shepherd's  song  is  not  Virgil- 
ian,  even  this  contrast  between  the  woes  of 
the  betrayed  and  the  bereaved  lovers  is 
found  in  the  Due  pellegrini  of  Luigi  Tansil- 
lo,  which  was  probably  produced  as  early 
as  1528  and  which  Garcilaso  must  have 
known. 

Not  only  the  main  outline,  but  the  minor 
details  of  the  poem  reveal  a  constant  imi- 
tation of  other  pastoral  poets.  From  the 
same  eclogue  of  Virgil  and  from  others  of 
the  same  poet,  particularly  the  second, 
Garcilaso  has  borrowed  many  of  his  phrases 
and  figures,  and  his  use  of  a  refrain  to  close  \ 
each  stanza.  The  lament  of  Xemoroso  is 
strongly  reminiscent  of  the  song  of  Ergasto 
in  the  fifth  egloga  of  Sannazaro's  Arcadia] 
his  apostrophe  to  the  lock  of  his  lady's  hair 
is  translated  from  the  words  of  Meliseo  in 
the  twelfth  egloga  of  the  same  work.  The 
other  Italian  poets,  Petrarch,  Tansillo, 
Ariosto  and  Bembo,  seem  to  have  sug- 
gested to  him  many  of  his  poetic  images. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


242 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Like  the  first  of  his  Elegies,  the  poem  is 
a  mosaic  of  reminiscences  and  of  conscious 
imitations. 

,    What  is  it  then,  that  gives  the  work  its 
charm  ?    The  answer  is  simple:   the  poem 
is  beautiful  because  it  is  the  frank  revela- 
tion of  the  poet's  own  love  and  grief.    The 
form  he  uses  is  old  and  conventional;   his 
imagery  is  the  stock  material  of  the  class- 
ical Renaissance.     But  with  the  fire  of  his 
heart   he    has    fused  this  time-worn  form 
and  matter  into  a  gem  of  perfect  beauty. 
The  emotion  is  genuine.    These  shepherds 
are   no  puppets;    their  words  glow  with 
sincerity. 

In  Garcilaso's  own  day  there  seems  to 
have  been  little  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of 
these  shepherds.    "Salicio"  was  plainly  an 
anagram  for  the  name  Garcilaso;    Sa  de 
Miranda,  on  the  other  hand,  regularly  re- 
fers to  the  poet  as   "Nemoroso."      It  is 
strange  that  no   one  has   ever  remarked 
that  the  name  "Nemoroso"  is  an  adapta- 
tion of  the  rest  of  the  poet's  name,  "de  la 
Vega,"  for  "vega"  is  regularly  given  as  one 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

243 

of    the  translations   for   "nemus"    in  the 
Latin-Castilian  dictionaries.    The  poet  was 
plainly  referring  to  himself  in  both  cases; 
he  assumed  pastoral  names  derived  from 
the  different  parts  of  his   own  name  to 
cloak  his  different  moods. 

His  commentators,  however,  would  not 
have  it  so.     ''Salicio,  es  Garci-Lasso,   Ne- 
moroso,    Boscan:      porque    nemus    es    el 
bosque,"    said    Francisco    Sanchez,^    and 
thereby  diverted  the  attention  of  subse- 
quent generations.    His  theory  was  elabor- 
ated by  Luis  Zapata,  who  declared  in  his 
Misceldnea-  that  Boscan  was  a  suitor  for 
the  hand  of  Dofia  Isabel  before  her  mar- 
riage.   Herrera,  perhaps  to  avoid  following 
the  opinion  of   Sanchez,  informs  us  that 
Nemoroso  represents  the  husband  of  Dona 
Isabel,   Don  Antonio  de  Fonseca!  ^     And 
between  these  two  opinions   the    struggle 
has  fluctuated. 

It  is  needless  to  observe  the  impropriety 
of  both  these  interpretations.     Garcilaso's 
reference   in   Eclogue   III   to    Nemoroso 's 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

244 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

song  to  Elisa  is   clearly  to  be  taken  as  a 
reminiscence   of  his  own  personal  exper- 
ience, 

porque  de  todo  aquesto  y  cada  cosa 
estava  Nise  ya  tan  informada 
que  Ilorando  el  pastor,  mil  vezes  ella 
se  enternecio,  escuchando  su  querella. 
(lines  253-56) 

Neither  Boscan  nor  Antonio  de  Fonseca 
could  have  been  represented  by  Nemoroso. 

Faria  y  Sousa,  as  early  as  1689,^  ex- 
pressed this  conviction,  noting  the  intima- 
cy which  existed  between  the  poet  and  Dona 
Isabel  before  her  marriage,  as  well  as  the 
common  pastoral  convention,  by  which 
the  poet  assumed  different  names  to  inter- 
pret different  roles.  But  his  comment 
passed  unnoticed  until  Senhora  Micaelis 
de  Vasconcellos  recalled  and  approved 
his  opinion  in  her  edition  of  the  poems  of 
Sa  de  Miranda. 2 

It  is,  then,  as  a  revelation  of  the  poet's 
own  experience,  admirable  in  its  sincerity 
and  touching  in  its  emotion,  that  the  first 
of  the  Eclogues  stands  as  a  true  poem.    In 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

245 

an  age  of  artificial  imitation  it  is  eminent 
for  its  depth  of  real  feeling  and  its  wistful 
tenderness.    Nowhere  in  the  works  of  Gar- 
cilaso,  rarely  in  the  poems  of  the  Renais- 
sance,  can  we  find  a  song  which   comes 
closer  to  our  hearts  than  this  cry  of  the 
poet's  heart;    disappointment  and  death 
have  rarely  received  a  more  moving  por- 
trayal. 

Not  only  in  its  emotion  is  it  the  most 
intense   of  his  works,  but  in  its  form  it 
shows  his  greatest  perfection.     The  sturdy 
CastiHan  of  the  Middle  Ages  has  become 
the   medium    for    the    most    harmonious 
lyric  expression,  supple,  replete  with  color, 
filled   with   musical   cadences.       In    spite 
of  an  occasional  lapse  in  technical  form- 
ation,   the    difficult    Petrarchan    canzone 
has  become  a  facile  instrimient,  varied  in 
its  rhythm,  capable  of  subtle  tones;    it  is 
once  for  all  estabHshed  as  a  form  for  Span- 
ish poetry.     Such  an  achievement  in  itself 
would  place  Garcilaso  among  the  epoch- 
making  figures  in  Spanish  literature;   com- 
bined with  its  power  of  emotional  appeal 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

246 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

it  makes  this  little  pastoral  one  of  the  out- 
standing lyrics  in  Castilian  poetry.     If  its 
equal  is  to  be  found,  it  must,  be  sought 
among  the  lyrics  of  Luis  de  Leon. 

The  longest  and  most  pretentious  of  the 
poems  of  Garcilaso  is  his  second  Eclogue, 
written  as   a   tribute   to   Fernan   Alvarez 
de  Toledo,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Alba,  late 
in  1 53  2  or  perhaps  early  in  1533.    Although 
in  many  respects  it  is  one  of  his  least  ar- 
tistic works,  it  does  offer  us  an  example  of 
his  more  familiar  speech  and  is  therefore 
linguistically  of  peculiar  importance.  More- 
over it  provides  the  only  example  of  the 
poet's  use  of  the  Italian  rima  al  mezzo,  the 
one  metrical  innovation  of  Garcilaso  which 
was  not  destined  to  find  a  permanent  place 
in  the  Castilian  Parnassus.    Finally  it  adds 
in  some  measure  to  our  knowledge  of  cer- 
tain events  in  the  life  of  the  poet.     These 
qualities  atone  for  its  tedious  prolixity. 

The  poem  opens  with  a  soliloquy  of  the 
shepherd  Albanio  (the  Duke  of  Alba),  la- 
menting his  misfortune  in  love.     Turning 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

247 

to  sleep  as  his  only  consolation,  he  lies 
down   and   falls   asleep.      Two   shepherds 
pass;  one,  Salicio,  singing  in  perfect  Hora- 
tian  style  the  praises  of  the  solitude  of  the 
country,  free  from  the  strifes  and  cares  of 
court.      Of  a  sudden,  he  spies  the  sleeping 
swain  and  in  altered  strains,  reflects  on 
the  blessings  of  sleep  for  the  weary  spirit. 
Then  he  recognizes  the  shepherd  as  Albanio, 
of  whose  unhappy  state  he  has  heard.   Hah 
asleep  still,  the  latter  begins  to  stir,  pro- 
testing   that    his    dream    has    vanished. 
Salicio  speaks  to  him  and  after  a  brief  con- 
versation persuades  him  to  tell  the  story 
of   his    trouble.      Since    early    childhood, 
Albanio  has  Hved  on  terms  of  the  closest 
intimacy  with  a  cousin  and  their  intimacy 
had  ripened  into  love  on  his  part.     There 
is   Httle   difficulty  in   recognizing  in  this 
maiden,    "de    mi    sangre    y    abuelos    des- 
cendida,"  whom  we  shall  presently  meet 
as  the  shepherdess,  Camila,  the  wife  of  the 
Duke  of  Alba,  Maria  Enriquez,  daughter 
of  the  Conde  de  Alba  de  Liste,  Diego   En- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

- 

248 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

riquez,  and  Dona  Leonor  de  Toledo,  and 
granddaughter  of  Don  Fadrique  de  Toledo, 
second  Duke  of  Alba. 

The   long  story   (lines    170-680),   which 
Albanio  relates  of  their  youthful  pastimes 
and  the  unhappy  progress  of  his  love,  is 
translated   from   the  eighth   prosa  of  the 
Arcadia.      In    general   the   translation   is 
close,  as  close  as  it  is  possible  to  write  a 
translation  in  verse.     The   only  liberties 
which  Garcilaso  takes  with  the  original  are 
the  introduction  of  a  brief  rest  half  way 
through  the  tale  (hnes  365-41 5) ^  in  which 
Albanio  hesitates  to  continue  until  assured 
of    Salicio's   sympathetic   interest,   and   a 
change  in  the  final  scene,  in  which  the  lover 
is  deterred  from  committing  suicide,  not 
as  in  Sannazaro  by  the  appearance  of  two 
white  doves  in  the  oak  tree  above  him,  but 
by  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  which  throws 
him  flat  upon  his  back.     Artistically  the 
passage  is  fully  the  equal  of  the  ItaHan 
original,  although  the  immediate  applica- 
tion to  the  experiences   of  the   Duke   of 
Alba  is  far-fetched.     SaHcio's  attem.pt  to 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

249 

encourage  Albanio  is  brusquely  repelled  by 
the  latter,  who  leaves  his  friend  to  ponder 
on  the  futility  of  any  effort  to  save  him 
until  time  shall  have  softened  him.    After 
this  brief  stanza  of  soliloquy,  Salicio  too 
departs  to   seek  a  nightingale's  nest   for 
Gravina,  whose  identity  in  real  life  remains 
a  mystery. 

Hardly  have  the  two  shepherds  disap- 
peared when  a  shepherdess,   Camila^   ap- 
pears, following  the  trail  of  a  stag  that  has 
been    wounded    by    one    of    her    arrows. 
Tempted  by  the  coolness  of  the  spot,  she 
gives  up  the  chase.    The  sight  of  the  spring 
recalls  to  her  mind  the  scene  when  she  had 
learned  of  Albanio 's  passion  for  her.     Re- 
proaching him  for  his  daring  and  swearing 
allegiance  to  Diana,  she  lies  down  beside 
the  spring  to  sleep  till  the  heat  of  the  day 
is  past.    As  she  lies  asleep,  Albanio  returns 
and  after  a  struggle  with  himself,  sits  down 
by  her  side  and  takes  her  hand.     Camila, 
awakened,  is  terrified  and  tries  to  free  her- 
self.    But  Albanio  is   obstinate   and  not 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

250 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

• 

until  she  pretends  that  she  has  lost  her 
golden  brooch  does  he  release  his  hold  and 
allow  her  to  escape. 

Discovering  that  he  has  been  duped,  the 
poor  shepherd  is  frenzied  and  begins  to 
rave.  His  ravings,  it  must  be  said,  are  a 
parody  of  Ovid's  description  of  Narcissus 
beside  the  spring,  for  Albanio  is  convinced 
that  some  one  has  stolen  his  body  and  now 
he  discovers  it  mocking  him  from  the  depths 
of  the  spring.  Salicio,  who  has  returned  ac- 
companied by  Nemoroso,  is  fearful  lest 
in  his  frenzy  he  will  do  harm  to  himself  and 
starts  to  hold  him.  Albanio  turns  on  him 
and  without  the  interference  of  Nemoroso 
it  would  have  fared  ill  with  Salicio.  To- 
gether they  are  able  to  master  him  and 
having  bound  him  fast,  they  leave  him  on 
the  ground  to  recover. 

Salicio 's  question  as  to  how  Albanio  can 
be  cured  is  answered  by  Nemoroso  in  a 
long  tribute  to  a  certain  Severo,  who  is 
none  other  than  the  Dominican  friUr  of 
that  name  who  was  the  tutor  of  the  Duke 
from  1522.     The  magic  powers  attributed 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS          251 

to  him  are  purely  conventional:    those  of 
Medea  in  Ovid  or  of  the  old  witch  in  the 
ninth  prosa  of  the  Arcadia.    What  is  more 
interesting  is  Xemoroso's  confession  that 
Severo  has  cured  him  of  a  mad  love  and 
convinced  him  of  the  error  of  his  ways. 
After  another  pause,  introduced  Hke  that 
in  the  narrative  of  Albanio  to  break  the 
monotony,  Nemoroso  continues  his  story  of 
Severo,  who  has  received  from  the  old  river- 
god,  Tormes,  a  revelation  of  the  lords  of 
the  Tormes,  that  is,  of  the  House  of  Toledo. 
This  revelation,  inscribed  upon  a  crystal 
iim,  recalls  the  familiar  device  of  pseudo- 
prophecies  foimd  on  shields;    here  plainly 
the  urn  is  more  fitting  to  the  river -god.    It 
contains  at  once  a  history  of  the  family  of 
the  yoimg  Duke  from  the  time  of  Feman 
Alvarez  de  Toledo.  Count  of  Alba  in  the 
reign  of  John  II,  and  also  a  detailed  ac- 
coimt  of  the  Duke's  own  career  down  to 
his  return  from  the  siege  of  Vienna  in  the 
spring  of  1533. 

This    long    passage    (lines    11 81 -1743), 
written  in  rima  al  mezzo  lines,  is  of  scant 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

252 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

literary  merit.     Most  of  it,  it  is  true,  is 
original,    particularly    those    parts    which 
record  actual  events  in  the  life  of  the  Duke 
or  his  ancestors.     But  Garcilaso  was  not 
gifted  as  a  narrative  poet  and  the  peculiar 
verse,  with  its  complicated  inner  rhyme, 
accentuates  the  monotony  of  the  account. 
The  story  of  Don  Fernando 's  life  is  told 
with  more  ornament,  much  of  it  derived 
from  the  last  canto  of  the  Orlando  furioso, 
with  an  occasional  classical  reminiscence, 
like  that  of  the  bridal  scene  from  Catullus. 
We  learn  of  the  Duke's  education  by  Severo 
and  Boscan,  of  his  maiden  exploit  in  arms 
(it  was  at  Fuenterrabia  in   1523),  of  his 
first  meeting  and  love  for  the  lady  who  was 
destined  to  become  his  wife,  of  the  duel 
he  fought  on  the  bridge  at  Burgos  and  of 
his  marriage  to  Doiia  Maria  Enriquez. 

There  follows  an  account  of  his  journey 
to    Ratisbonne    with    Garcilaso    and    the 
various   details   of  the   campaign   against 
Solyman  which  we  have  discussed  in  an 
earlier   chapter.      The   story   on   the   urn 
ends  with  his  reunion  with  his  wife,  for  in 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


253 


spite  of  Severo's  plea,  old  Tonnes  refuses  to 
disclose  the  meaning  of  the  brilHance  which 
still  remains  imexplained  upon  the  um. 
Severo,  astounded  at  what  he  has  seen,  has 
written  it  down  as  best  he  can  and  thus 
Nemoroso  has  learned  the  story-  With  a 
brief  exchange  of  opinions  as  to  the  im- 
portance of  appeaHng  to  Severo  to  cure 
their  friend  and  a  few  conventional  pas- 
toral phrases,  in  which  there  appears  for 
the  second  time  a  mention  of  another 
friend,  one  Gualafron.  who  is  probably  to 
be  identified  as  the  Marquis  of  Villafranca, 
Don  Pedro  de  Toledo,  the  two  shepherds 
part  and  the  Eclogue  ends. 

As  a  composition,  the  poem  is  extremely 
imeven.  Some  of  its  lyrical  passages,  such 
as  the  opening  song  of  Salicio  (Hnes  38-76), 
are  as  finished  as  the  best  work  of  the  poet ; 
at  other  times  the  style  drags  heavily,  hardly 
rising  above  the  level  of  prose.  Perhaps 
the  most  interesting  feature  in  the  whole 
work  is  the  piu-ely  popular  conversational 
style  used  in  the  dialogue  passages.  There 
is  here  a  fine  savor  of  old  Castilian  with  its 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


254 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

proverbial  phrases  and  its  blunt  directness. 
Even  more,  there  is  a  touch  of  real  humor 
which  we  should  seek  in  vain  in  the  rest 
of  his  work.     The  scene  at  the  spring  is  a 
brief  paso,  with  a  strong  sense  of  dramatic 
feeling,  and  an  unusually  clever  command 
of  dialogue.     One  wonders  whether  Gar- 
cilaso's  early  death  did  not  deprive  Spain 
of  a  potentially  dramatic  poet  as  well  as 
of   her   first    lyric    poet.      Did   not    Don 
Quixote  and  Sancho  Panza,  close  to  the 
end   of   their   joumeyings,    come   upon   a 
group  of  youths  and  maidens  performing 
a  part  of  this  Eclogue  ? 

The  last  of  the  Eclogues  of  Garcilaso,  un- 
doubtedly also  the  last  of  his  works,  opens 
with  this  dedication: 

Aquella  voluirtad  onesta  y  pura, 
illustre  y  hermosissima  Maria, 
que  eri  mi  de  celebrar  tu  hermosura, 
tu  ingenio  y  tu  valor  estar  solia, 
a  despecho  y  pesar  de  la  ventura 
que  por  otro  camino  me  desvia, 
esta  y  estara  en  ,mi  tanto  clavada 
quanto  del  cuerpo  el  alma  aqompanada. 

(fines  1-8) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  255 


The  identity  of  this  Maria  has  never  been 
definitely  established,  though  Herrera  says, 
"Some  think  that  it  was  addressed  to  the 
Duchess  of  Alba  (Maria  Enriquez),  others, 
to  Doiia  Maria  de  Cardona,  Marchioness 
de  la  Padula  (to  whom  the  poet  dedicated 
Sonnet  XXXIV);  but  the  truth  is,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  Don  Antonio 
Puertocarrero,  that  it  is  addressed  to  Dofia 
Maria  de  la  Cueva,  Countess  of  Ureiia, 
mother  of  Don  Pedro  Giron,  first  Duke  of 
Ostina."  In  spite  of  this  authority,  it  is 
probable  that  the  ]Maria  to  whom  the  poet 
expresses  his  devotion  is  none  of  these. 

Several  reasons  bear  out  this  fact.  In 
this  opening  stanza,  the  poet  speaks  of  a 
recent  change  of  fortune  which  separates 
him  from  her.  That  this  is  subsequent  to 
his  exile  in  Naples  in  1532  is  clear  from  the 
lines, 

Mas  la  fortuna,  de  mi  mal  no  harta, 
me  aflige  y  de  un  trabajo  en  otro  lleva; 
ya  de  la  patria,  ya  del  bien  me  aparta, 
y  a  mi  paciencia  en  mil  maneras  prueva, 
(lines  17-20) 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


256 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

as  well  as  by  the  fact  that  he  refers  to  his 
own  first  Eclogue  as  already  well  known 
(lines  249-5 2) .    In  fact  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  the  separation  refers  to  his 
departure  from  Naples  for  the  campaign 
in  La  Provence  in   1536.     The  Maria  to 
whom  he  is  paying  tribute,  then,  must  be 
some  lady  who  is  in  Naples.     This  condi- 
tion would  eliminate  the  possibility  of  the 
Maria  of  the  poem  being  either  the  Duchess 
of  Alba  or  the  Marchioness  of  Urefia,  for 
they  were  at  the  time  both  in  Spain.    Fur- 
thermore it  is  clear  that  the  poet  is  tmder 
real  obligation  to  this  Maria;  the  spirit  of 
devotion  which  animates  him  is  something 
quite  aHen  to  the  gallant  badinage  of  his 
tribute  to  the  Marchioness  de  la  Padula. 
It  must  also  be  observed  that  the  four 
nymphs  whom  he  introduces  in  the  poem 
are  real  people  in  pastoral  disguise,  for  he 
remarks  that  one  of  them,  Nise,  is  well 
fitted  to  tell  the  story  of  Elisa,  since  she 
has  so  often  heard  it  from  Nemoroso;    in 
other  words,   Nise  represents  one  of  the 
poet's  intimate  friends.     Of  further  import. 

HI  SPANIC   NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

257 

is  the  fact  that  these  nymphs  are  nymphs 
of  the  Tagus  and  that  one  of  them,  Nise 
again,   weaves   a  picture  of    the    city    of 
Toledo  in  her  golden  tapestry.       Finally 
the   use   of    this    device    of  the  nymphs, 
their  number,  and  the  appearance  of  the 
two   shepherds   at  the  close  of  the  poem 
must  all  have  some  particular  significance 
and  in    some   way    pay   tribute    to    the 
Maria  who  received  the  poem. 

All  of  these  conditions  are  satisfied  if 
the  Maria  is  Doiia  Maria  Osorio  Pimentel, 
wife  of  his  patron,  Don  Pedro  de  Toledo. ^ 
Of   the   poet's   long   intimacy    with    Don 
Pedro  we  have  had  frequent  occasion  to 
speak.    During  his  brief  residence  in  Toledo 
before    1532,   his  house  adjoined  that   of 
Don  Pedro  and  Dofia  Maria  and  he  must 
have   had   every   opportunity   to   become 
intimate  with  their  family,   consisting  of 
four  daughters,  Leonor,   Juana,  Ana,  and 
Isabel,  and  several  sons,  of  whom  at  least 
two,  Don  Fadrique  and  Don  Garcia,  were 
with  their  father  in  Naples,  where  this  old 
friendship  was  no  doubt  continued.    Under 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

258 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

these    circumstances,    what    more    fitting 
tribute  could  he  pay  to  a  mother  than  to 
present  her  children  in  the  guise  of  nymphs 
and   singing   swains  ?     What  more   effec- 
tive reference  could  he  make  to  their  com- 
mon love  of  Toledo  than  to  picture  it  in 
the  work  of  one  of  these  nymphs  ?    What 
could  have  been  more  natural  than  that 
he  should  have  confided  the  story  of  his 
grief  to  his  favorite  among  this  family  of 
girls,  who  had  been  playmates  with  him 
in  the  old  days  at  home  ?    Finally,  in  whom 
among  all  his  circle  of  acquaintance  could 
he  have  found  a  more  friendly  protectress 
than'  in  the  wife  of  his  Hfe-long  patron  ? 

The  terms  in  which  he  addressed  his 
patroness    are   of   especial   interest,   for 
they  make  clear  in  this,  the  last  of  his 
works,  the  same  devotion  to  letters  in  the 
midst  of  war  which  he  had  shown  in  his 
Elegy  to  Boscan.     Our  admiration  for  his 
high  gifts  can  only  be  enhanced  by  the 
consideration  that  this  poem,  written  per- 
haps during  the  period  of  waiting  before  the 
passage   of  the   Alps   into   France,    could 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

259 

never  have  received  the  final  polish  of  his 
hand,  but  stands  to-day  as  he  wrote  it, 

entre  las  armas  del  sangriento  Marte. 

The  device  which  Garcilaso  uses  as  a 
background  for  his  poem  is  one  suggested 
by  Sannazaro  in  the  last  prosa  of  the  Ar- 
cadia.   Four  nymphs  issue  from  the  Tagus 
and  after  sporting  for  a  moment  in  the 
river  and  on  the  shore,  start  to  embroider 
certain  tapestries,  woven  with  threads  of 
gold  from  the  stream.    The  themes  of  the 
work  of  the  first  three,  described  in  detail 
by  the  poet,  are  familiar  classical  myths: 
the  stories  of  Orpheus  and  Eurydice,  of 
Apollo  and   Daphne,   and  of  Venus  and 
Adonis.     The  last  of  the  nymphs,   Nise, 
weaves  a  more  personal  story;  with  a  view 
of  Toledo  in  the  background,  she  shows  a 
funeral    gathering    on   the    banks   of   the 
Tagus,  a  company  of  nymphs  who  have 
come  to  pay  the  last  rites  to  a  maiden, 
whose  epitaph  they  carve  upon  a  tree.  The 
maiden   is    Elisa,    beloved   of    Nemoroso, 
whose  song  of  grief  must   ere  this  have 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

260 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

reached  her  home  in  Portugal.  Thus  to 
the  very  end  of  his  life,  Garcilaso  found  in 
Dona  Isabel  Freire  the  inspiration  for  his 
verse. 

The  sun  is  setting  and  the  nymphs, 
dropping  their  tasks,  are  preparing  to  re- 
turn to  the  river,  when  they  are  stopped  by 
the  sound  of  pan's-pipes.  In  a  moment 
two  shepherds  appear,  Tirreno  and  Alzino, 
and,  like  Cory  don  and  Thyrsis  in  Virgil's 
seventh  Eclogue,  they  begin  an  amoebean 
competition  in  praise  of  their  mistresses, 
Flerida  and  Phyllis.  Their  songs  are 
thoroughly  conventional,  almost  translated 
from  Virgil.  When  they  have  ended,  they 
start  again  on  their  way  and  the  nymphs, 
at  the  sound  of  their  approach,  disappear 
beneath  the  waters  of  the  stream.  The 
third  line  from  the  end  is  imperfect.  Death 
interrupted  the  task. 

Although  the  poem  is  called  an  Eclogue, 
there  is  little  of  the  pa,storal  about  it,  save 
the  formal  responsive  songs  at  the  end. 
The  rest  is  either  mythological  or  allegor- 
ical. While  in  artistic  merit  it  falls  far  below 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


261 


the  first  of  the  Eclogues,  it  remains  a  poem 
of  fine  workmanship  and  in  some  respects 
offers  the  most  perfect  example  of  Gar- 
cilaso's  mastery  of  the  cadence  of  the 
hendecasyllable.  His  octave  is  a  sonorous 
instrument,  infinitely  more  supple  and 
effective  than  that  of  Boscan  and  a  worthy 
model  for  the  poets  of  the  succeeding  gener- 
ation. 

5.      GARCILASO'S  LYRIC  ART. 

Garcilaso  is  not  a  poet  of  many  moods; 
the  strings  of  his  lyre  are  few.  In  vain 
shall  we  seek  in  him  the  passionate  fire  of 
Catullus  or  the  good-humored  geniality 
of  Horace.  Nor  do  we  find  any  of  the 
mystic  aspiration  toward  eternity  which 
transports  a  Luis  de  Leon  or  a  San  Juan 
de  la  Cruz.  The  burden  of  his  song  is 
simple:  life's  path  is  a  way  of  futile  striv- 
ing and  of  disappointment.  Love  is  in 
vain;  death  is  the  great  healer.  There  is 
no  cynicism  in  his  retrospective  glance, 
only  a  vaguely  wistful  regret,  a  tender 
melancholy.  In  this  respect  he  is  closely 
akin  to  Virgil  in  the  eclogues  and  to  Sanna- 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


262 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


zaro,  his  two  great  masters.  His  Petrarchan 
mood  is  less  sincere,  for  his  spirit  was  less 
given  to  subtle  analysis  than  to  a  quiet 
delight  in  the  memory  of  his  misfortunes. 
His  few  pictures  of  the  heroic  struggles  of 
war  are  stilted  and  artificial.  But  within  the 
limited  confines  of  his  special  talent,  the 
simple  portrayal  of  human  regret  and  sorrow, 
he  has  few  equals  in  the  world's  literature. 
With  this  subtle  power  to  touch  the 
heart  of  the  world  with  a  sense  of  his  per- 
sonal sorrow  goes  hand  in  hand  an  ex- 
quisite taste  and  a  perfect  form.  Working 
in  a  medium  which  was  new  and  strange, 
with  no  models  to  follow  in  the  diction  of 
his  own  Castilian  speech,  he  created  a 
Spanish  lyric  diction.  For  such  a  task 
he  was  happily  equipped.  His  stout  Cas- 
tilian past  gave  him  a  poise  and  dignity; 
his  close  contact  with  Italy  added  to  his 
instrument  the  qualities  of  elegance  and 
polish.  The  result  of  these  two  influences 
is  a  style  which  is  at  once  distinguished 
and  supple,  free  from  the  rigidity  of  his 
own  speech  and  also  free  from  the  extrav- 


HI  SPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND      WORKS 

263 

agances  of  his  Italian  contemporaries.    In 
the  delicacy  of  his  finish,  in  the  purity  and 
simplicity  of  his  lines  there  is  a  quality  like 
that  of  some  exquisite  plateresque  carving. 
There  have  been  those  who  have  sought 
to  find  in  his  work  traces  of  that  conscious 
effort  for  subtlety  which  led  in  time  to 
the  excesses  of  Gongora  and  his  perverted 
school.    Such  a  charge  implies  an  ignorance 
of  the  poetry  of  the  can ci oner os  and  of  the 
Italian  poets  of  his  time.     Compared  with 
Juan  de  Mena  or  Angelo  di  Costanzo,  Gar- 
cilaso  is  classical  in  his  purity  and  sim- 
plicity.    Such  he  was  considered  to  be  by 
Lope  de  Vega,  by  Quevedo,   and  by  all 
the  other  opponents  of  the  school  of  cul- 
ler an  ismo,  who  turn  to  him  as  a  model  of 
sound  writing  and  good  taste.     This  good 
taste  is  unfailing  in  his  work;    his  feeling 
for  the  fitting  expressing  is  never  ques- 
tionable.   It  is  not  the  least  of  the  tributes 
which  are  paid  to  his  achievement  that 
to-day  his  works  seem  more  modern  in 
their  style  and  language  than  any  of  the 
works  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

264 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Not  the  least  of  his  gifts,  certainly  the 
one  which  has  insured  him  the  unswerving 
admiration  of  his  own  people  through  the 
centuries,  is  his  incomparable  gift  of  song. 
Oviedo,  it  will  be  recalled,  styled  him  a 
"gentil  musico";    that  power  was  trans- 
lated into  his  work.    Nowhere  in  Castilian 
can    there    be    found    such    music,    such 
variety  of  tone  and  color,  such  appealing 
melody.     To  have  enriched  the  life  of  his 
nation  with  this  gift  is  alone  a  warrant  for 
his  enduring  fame.    But  Garcilaso  is  more 
than  an  object  of  national  pride;   he  is  a 
source   of  permanent   delight   for  all   the 
world  whose  speech  is  Spanish.    And  hap- 
pily, this  gift  of  song  is  not  one  that  ap- 
peals merely  to  the  trained  mind;    it  still 
stirs  all  men  who  love  the  song  of  birds, 
the  rustle  of  wind  in  the  trees  or  the  bab- 
bling   of    brooks.      Thus    Garcilaso's    in- 
fluence and  popularity  have  been  universal. 
We  do  not  need  to  know  the  source  of  his 
themes  to  be  stirred  by  the  magic  of  his 
words.    His  art  of  song  is  spontaneous  and 
eternal. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE  AND  WORKS 


265 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  LETTERS 

Of  the  three  letters  of  Garcilaso  which 
have  come  down  to  us  as  evidences  of  his 
prose,  one  is  a  brief  official  note  sent  to 
the  Emperor  concerning  a  miHtary  mat- 
ter. The  second  is  a  short,  friendly  mis- 
sive to  Girolamo  Seripando,  interesting 
largely  because  of  an  unexplainable  refer- 
ence to  certain  enmities  at  the  Court.  The 
third  letter,  however,  is  considerably 
longer  and  offers  a  larger  interest. 

This  letter,  the  first  of  Garcilaso 's  works 
to  appear  in  print,  is  addressed  to  Dona 
Geronima  Palova  de  Almogavar  and  serves 
as  a  prologue  to  Boscan's  translation  of 
II  cortegiano  of  Baldassare  Castiglione. 
It  was  Garcilaso,  as  Boscan  tells  us  in  his 
own  Prologo,  ^  who  first  sent  him  a  copy 
of  the  Italian  work  and  it  was  he  who, 
after  the  translation  had  been  made  at 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


266 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the  instigation  of  Dona  Geronima,  insisted 
upon  its  immediate  publication,  even  read- 
ing the  final  proof  himself. 

There  are  several  reflections  of  the  poet's 
opinions  in  this  letter,  which  give  us  some 
glimpse  of  his  literary  tastes,  as  well  as 
his  general  attitude  toward  life.     Thus  he 
remarks  his   satisfaction  in  having  early 
appreciated  the  excellent  qualities  of  Casti- 
gli one's  work,   adding  a   significant  com- 
ment on  the  importance  of  a  gentleman's 
avoiding  all  action  which  might  tend  to 
lower  his  reputation   on  the   world.     Of 
particular  interest  is  his  biting  criticism  of 
early  Spanish  Hterature.      "Some  misfor- 
tune has  always  been  ours,"  he  says,  "for 
hardly   anyone   has   written   anything   in 
our  tongue  which  could  not  very  well  have 
been- dispensed  with."    Plainly  he  was  not 
familiar   with    Juan   Ruiz;     the    Celestina 
he  must  have   overlooked,   or  considered 
unworthy  of  a  place  in  belles  lettres.    In  all 
probability  he  is  thinking  primarily  of  the 
novelas caballerescas, iorheadds,  "though  this 
would  be  hard  to  prove  to  those  who  always 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

267 

have  in  hand  those  books  that  kill  men.''^ 
Another  passage  of  especial  moment,  as 
reflecting  his  own  methods,  is  his  comment 
on  the  value  of  Boscan's  translation.    It 
is  as  hard,  he  believes,  to  translate  a  book 
well  as  to  write  a  new  book.     Boscan  has 
avoided  the  dangers,  he  has  escaped  af- 
fectation,   without    falling    into    dryness. 
His  language  is  pure,  his  words  are  elegant, 
in  good  usage,  and  not  new  nor  unfamiliar. 
If  these  are   qualities  of  style  which  he 
admired  in  his  friend,  may  we  not  sup- 
pose that  they  were  also  those  which  he 
sought  himself  to  achieve  ?     And  in  fact, 
are  not  these  precisely  the  qualities  which 
critics  have  foimd  in  his  works  ?    Continu- 
ing, he  praises  the  translator  for  his  skill 
in   translating,    not   the    words,    but    the 
spirit  and  ideas  of  the  original,  achieving 
the  same  effects  of  force  or  ornament  by 
following  different  paths.    Here  once  more 
we  have  a  statement  of  his  own  practice, 
which  he  has  so  admirably  illustrated  in 
his    translation    of     Sannazaro    in    the 
second  Eclogue. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

268 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

His  defense  of  Castiglione  from  the 
charge  of  inequality  in  the  humor  of  the 
examples  which  he  cites  is  not  wholly  con- 
vincing, but  it  does  bespeak  the  writer  of 
experience  who  knows  the  difficulty  of 
maintaining  the  level  of  inspiration,  and 
it  does  show, a  certain  regard  for  a  realistic 
presentation  of  lifej  which  is  banal  as  well 
as  brilliant.  The  final  reference  to  his  own 
share  in  the  work  must  certainly  be  taken 
literally.  Garcilaso  is  in  no  wise  respons- 
ible for  the  excellencies  of  the  translation, 
as  Navarrete  suggested;^  it  is  the  achieve- 
ment of  Boscan  and  it  is  unnecessary  to 
seek  in  it  the  hand  of  his  friend.  Garcilaso 
was  privileged  to  review  it. 

As  Menendez  y  Pelayo  has  fitly  re- 
marked, ^  few  works  have  been  honored  with 
a  prologue  more  subtly  and  discreetly 
phrased,  nor  more  delicately  fitted  to  their 
subject.  Garcilaso's  prose,  Hke  his  verse, 
is  polished  and  elegant;  far  more  than  his 
verse  it  shows  the  gracious  dignity  of  old 
Castilian.  If  it  lacks  the  simplicity  of  the 
prose  of  his  great  contemporary,  Juan  de 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

269 

Valdes,  it  must  be  attributed  to  the  arti- 
ficial atmosphere  of  the  court  in  which  he 
lived.      The    whole    letter    reflects    that 
courtly  life,  with  its  elaborate  compliments 
and  tributes,  often  too  overdrawn  for  the 
tastes  of  modem  life.     But  the  Garcilaso 
whom  we  see  is  quite  the  same  gallant 
gentleman  who  moves  through  the  verses 
he   has   left:     f)olished    and   subtly    well- 
balanced,   himself   a   model   of  the   corie- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

270 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

CHAPTER  III 

THE  LATIN  POEMS 

In  1622  Tamayo  de  Vargas  printed  at 
the  end  of  his  edition  of  Garcilaso's  works 
a    Latin    epigram    "Garsiae    Lassi    de    la 
Vega  ad  Ferdinandum  de  Acuna,"  which 
had  first  appeared  in  the  1553  edition  of 
Acuna 's    translation    of    Le    chevalier    de- 
libere.     This  epigram  was  considered  the 
only  example   of   Garcilaso's   Latin  verse 
vintil  the  end  of  the  last  century.    Appar- 
ently it  has  never  occurred  to  anyone  to 
question  its  authenticity,  although  the  most 
cursory  investigation  would  have  led  to  a 
demonstration  of  the  fact  that  this  epigram 
could  not  have  been  the  work  of  our  poet. 
For  Fernando  de  Acufia  was  born  about 
1520;!    he  was,  then,  about  sixteen  years 
old  when  Garcilaso  died.     Surely,  even  if 
Garcilaso   had   chanced   to   meet   him   in 
those  last  days  of  the  campaign  in   La 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  271 


Provence,  where  Acuna  joined  the  Imperi- 
al forces  a  few  days  before  the  poet's 
death  —  and  this  is  highly  improbable  — 
he  could  hardly  have  found  in  this  lad  a 
distinguished  eulogist  of  the  royal  family. 
In  fact,  the  first  verses  of  Acuna  to  which 
it  is  possible  to  assign  a  date,  and  these  are 
all  amorous,  belong  to  the  period  between 
1537  and  1540.  His  famous  sonnet  to  the 
king, 

Ya  se  acerca,  sefior,  o  es  ya  llegada 
la  edad  gloriosa,  en  que  promete  el  cielo 
una  grey  y  un  pastor  solo  en  el  mundo  .  .  . 
\in  monarca,  un  imperio,  y  una  espada, 
(lines  1-3,  8)1 

can  hardly  have  been  written  before  the 
battle  of  ]\Iuhlberg  (1547).  The  transla- 
tion of  Le  chevalier  delibere,  undertaken  at 
the  request  of  Charles  V,  and  dedicated  to 
him,  was  certainly  written  long  after  Gar- 
cilaso's  death. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  plain 
that  the  Garcilaso  who  wrote  the  epigram 
was  not  our  poet  but  his  son  of  the  same 
name.     This  son  enjoyed  a  reputation  as 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


272 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

a  poet,  for  he  is  celebrated  among  other 
poets  of  the  decade  from  1540  to  1550  by 
Geronimo  de  Urrea  in  the  stanzas  which  he 
introduced   into  the   Canto   XLV   of  his 
translation  of  the  Orlando  furioso  (Anvers, 

1549), 

Don  Juan  de  Heredia  viene  muy  gozoso, 
dando  mas  luz  al  Celtiberio  assiento; 
y  don  Luys  Qapata,  desseoso 
de  ver  al  proprio  barco  en  salvamiento; 
Garcilasso  no  menos  presuroso 
viene,  monstrando  bien  ser  ornamento 
de  la  Vega  y  de  Qnniga\   y  ufano 
veo  a  Gualvez  venir,  junto  a  Morrano.^ 
Diego  Ramirez  Pagan,  in  his  Floresta  de 
varia  poesia,  dedicates  to  his  memory  a 
sonnet  in  which  he  seems  to  place  him  be- 
side his  father  in  the  glory  of  his  achieve- 
ment, 

iO  del  arbol  mas  bello  y  mas  gracioso 
que  ha  produzido  aca  fertil  terreno 
rico  pimpollo,  ya  de  flores  Ueno 
y  ^  par  de  otra  qualquier  planta  glorioso! 
El  mismo  viento  ayrado  y  tempestuoso, 
que  a  tu  tronco  tan  lexos  del  ameno 
patrio  Tago  arranco,  por  prado  ageno 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

273 

te  deshojo  con  soplo  pressuroso; 

y  una  misma  tambien  piadosa  mano 
hos  traspuso  en  el  cielo,  a  do  las  flores 
de  ambos  produzen  ya  agradable  fmto. 

No  hos  Uore,  como  suele  el  mundo  en 
vano, 
mas  consagreos  altar,  offrezca  olores, 
con  rostro  alegre  y  con  semblante  enxuto.^ 

It  is  also  probable,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
some    other    works    preserved    under   the 
name  of  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  are  his. 

Although  this  epigram  is  not  the  work  of 
Garcilaso,  other  of  his  Latin  poems  have 
survived.     As  long  ago  as  1762  there  was 
printed  at   Naples  in  the  edition  of  the 
Opera  of  Antonius  Thylesius  an  ode  of  un- 
doubted  authenticity  addressed  by   Gar- 
cilaso to  Thylesius  in  honor  of  his  Latin 
play,  the  Imher  aureus  (1529).     Since  the 
discovery  of  this  poem  by   Signori  Mele 
and  Savj -Lopez  in  1897,  two  other  of  his 
Latin  odes  have  been  found  and  printed  by 
Signor    Mele    and    Senor   Bonilla  y    San 
Martin,  so  that  we  may  now  form  some 
opinion  of  his  Latin  style. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

274 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

It  must  be  confessed  that  none  of  these 
three  poems  reveals  exceptional  worth;  in 
ease  and  mastery  of  form  they  cannot  be 
compared  with  the  work  of  Pontanus 
or  even  of  Sannazaro  or  Navagero.  Of 
classic  reminiscences  there  are  many,  par- 
ticularly of  Virgil  and  Horace;  the  versi- 
fication is  for  the  most  part  technically 
perfect ;  and  occasionally  there  is  a  line  of 
real  beauty  or  power.  But  as  a  whole  they 
smack  rather  of  the  school-boy  exercise,  of 
conscious  effort  to  use  an  artificial,  un- 
familiar form. 

It  seems  improbable  that  it  was  one  of 
these  odes  which  was  dedicated  to  Cardinal 
Bembo  and  of  which  the  latter  spoke  in 
terms  of  such  unmeasured  praise. ^  It  may 
well  be  true  that  Garcilaso's  odes  surpassed 
those  of  any  of  the  Spaniards  of  his  time; 
but  it  is  also  probable  that  they  were  the 
only  Latin  poems  written  by  a  Spaniard 
which  Bembo  had  ever  seen.  Nor  must 
it  be  forgotten  that  in  the  same  letter  in 
which  he  bestows  such  enthusiastic  praise, 
he  also  has  a  special  and  personal  favor  to 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

275 

ask  in  behalf  of  his  friend  Onorato  Fasci- 
telli.     We  can  only  say  that  if  Bembo's 
judgment  was  a  candid,  honest  expression 
of  his  opinion,  then  the  poems  to  which  he 
refers  must  have  been  other  than  those 
which  have  survived. 

Quite  apart  from  their  literary  value,  a 
certain  personal  interest  attaches  to  the 
odes  to  Thylesius  and  Sepulveda.    The  for- 
mer, in  particular,  contains  explicit  refer- 
ences to  the  poet's  stay  in  Germany  and 
to  the  new  friends  and  experiences  that 
he  was  enjoying  in  Naples,  as  well  as  the 
only  mention  of  his  wife  in  all  his  writings. 
The  latter,  although  more  conventional  in 
its  subject  matter,  testifies  to  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  historian  of  Charles  V  and 
gives  an  interesting  reference  to  the  lat- 
ter's  Democrates.     The  third  of  the  odes 
is  a  typical  product  of  the  Renaissance:   a 
pot-pourri  of  classical  reminiscences  of  the 
power  of  Cupid,  decked  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue    between    Venus    and    her    son, 
wholly  without  emotion,  unrelieved  even 
by  the  exquisite  artistic  finish  which  the 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

276 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

masters  of  this  school  of  imitation  suc- 
ceeded in  giving  to  their  verse.     Without 
these  works  we  knew  that  Garcilaso  was 
steeped  in  the  classic  Latin  poets;  through 
them  we  see  that  he,  like  the  other  poets 
of  his  time,  regarded  Latin  as  a  language 
for  actual  use  as  an  artistic  instrument; 
they   make   it   easier   to   understand   the 
close  affinity  which  exists  between  him  and 
Virgil  in  the  Eclogues.    He  belongs  to  that 
great  group  of  the  scholar-poets  of  the 
Renaissance. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  277 


CHAPTER  IV 
\^RSIFICATIOX 

Garcilaso's  position  as  an  innovator  in 
poetical  form  gives  especial  significance  to 
the  technical  methods  which  he  followed 
in  these  new  forms,  for  it  was  his  verse, 
rather  than  that  of  Boscan,  which  was  the 
model  of  the  early  members  of  the  Italian 
school  in  Spain,  and  as  we  shall  see,  it 
is  he  who  offers  the  first  example  of  the  use 
of  many  of  the  Italian  metrical  combina- 
tions.^ 

The  much  discussed  question  of  the 
first  appearance  in  Spain  of  the  hendeca- 
syllable  and  of  the  Italian  verse  forms, 
which  has  been  reviewed  at  length  by 
Menendez  y  Pelayo  in  his  study  of  the 
work  of  Boscan,-  does  not  concern  us  here. 
Although  there  can  be  Httle  doubt  that 
sporadic  lines  in  the  ItaHan  rhythms  are 
to  be  foimd  in  writers  of  the  Middle  Ages 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


278 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

in  Spain,  or  that  the  Marquis  of  Santillana 
and  Juan  de  Villalpando  made  a  conscious 
effort   to  imitate   the   sonnets   of   Dante, 
their  work  has  no  relation  with  that  of 
Garcilaso.    His  source  of  inspiration  is  not 
the  Hterature  of  his  own  tongue  but  that 
of  Italy,  to  which  he  was  led  by  circum- 
stances which  we  have  already  discussed. 
Nor  need  we  attempt  to  survey  the  history 
of  the  development  of  the  several  measures 
which  became   the   standard  rhythms  of 
Italian  verse.     It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
Garcilaso 's  model  for  his  versification,  as 
for  his  artistic  methods,  was  Petrarch. 

a.      THE  HENDECASYLLABLE 

The  hendecasyllable  of  Garcilaso  is  that 
of  Petrarch  in  its  two  normal  forms,  the 
one  with  stresses  on  the  sixth  and  tenth 
syllables, 

El  dulce  lamentar  de  dos  pastores, 

(Egl.  I,  1) 
the   other   with   stresses   on   the    fourth, 
eighth  and  tenth  syllables, 

iO  dulces  prendas,  por  mi  mal  falladas! 
(Son.  X,  1) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

279 

Without    counting    the    lines    with    inner 
rhymes,    in   which   there   is    an   enforced 
stress  on  the  sixth  syllable,   the  first  of 
these  two  types  largely  predominates.    In 
his  use  of  the  minor  accents  there  seems 
to  be  no  general  rules  except  the  intro- 
duction of  at  least  one  minor  stress  before 
the  sixth  syllable  in  verses  of  the  first  type 
and  the  avoidance  of  minor  stresses  ("acen- 
tos  obstruccionistas")  on  the  fifth  syllable 
in  verses  of  the  first  type,  and  on  the  third 
and  seventh  syllables  of  the  second  type 
(that  is,  before  the  secondary  line-stresses) 
and  on  the  ninth  s^dlable  in  verses  of  both 
types  (that  is,  before  the  main  Hne-stress).i 
In  general  it  may  be  said  of    his    verse, 
and  this  has   already  been  remarked  as 
characteristic  of  the  poets  of  the  sixteenth 
century   in    Spain  by  Rodriguez  Marin, ^ 
that    it    has    a    strongly    marked    iambic 
rhythm.    Wholly  iambic  lines  are  not  un- 
common. 

El  cielo  quanto  bien  conoce  el  miindo, 
(Son.  XXI,  2) 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

280 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

and  lines   with   four  iambic   stresses   are 
frequent, 

En  fin  a  vuestras  manos  he  venido, 

(Son.  II,  1) 

A  fuerga  de  llorar  crecer  hazla. 

(Son.  XIII,  10) 

Although  the  two  forms  which  we  have 
mentioned  are  the  norm  of  Garcilaso,  other 
types,    some    of   them   employed    by   his 
Italian  masters,  appear  in  his  poems.     In 
the  earlier  Tuscan  poets,  lines  which  bore 
a  secondary  stress  on  the  fourth  syllable 
were  not  necessarily  also  stressed  on  the 
eighth  syllable;  there  was  left  a  consider- 
able degree  of  freedom  in  the  disposition 
of  the  minor  stresses.    One  type,  that  with 
a  stress  on  the  seventh  syllable,  is  found 
occasionally  in  Petrarch,  and  in  Dante  is  so 
common  as  to  be  one  of  his  regular  forms. 
Of  this  type  there  are  a  number  of  examples 
in  Garcilaso: 

Cortaste  el  drbol,   con  mdnos  danosas. 

(Son.  XXV,  3) 

Y  a  ver  los  passos  por  do  me  ha  traydo. 

(Son.  I,  2) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  281 


Bien  es  verdad  que  no  esta  acompanada. 

(El.  I,  121) 
Tus  claros  ojos.  c.a  quien  los  volvlste? 
fEgl.  I,  128) 
Hinchen  el  a\Te  de  dulce  annonia. 

(Egl.  II,  69) 
Ora  clavando  del  ciervo  ligero. 

(Egl.  II,  194) 
Verde  tefiida,  aqiiel  valle  atajavamos. 

(Egl.  II,  210) 
Y  caminando  por  do  mi  ventiira. 

(Egl.  II.  539) 
Como  pudiste  tan  presto  ol\-idarte. 

(Egl.  II,  578) 
iAdios.  montanas;    adios,  verdes  prados! 

(Egl.  II,  638) 

Even  more  common  are  the  lines  which 
have  no  stress  between  the  fourth  and 
tenth  syllables: 

Pienso  remedios  en  mi  fantasia. 

(Son.  Ill,  6) 
Libre  el  lugar  a  la  desconfian^a. 

(Son.   IV,   4) 
A  poder  mio  y  a  mi  consentimiento. 

(Son.  VII,  10) 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


282 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

En  salvo  destos  acontecimientos. 

(Son.  XX,  6) 
Y  de  mis  mdles  arrepentimiento. 

(Cane.  I,  21) 
Me  quexo  a  vos,  como  si  en  verdad. 

(Cane.  II,  23) 
Un  campo  lleno  de  deseonfianga. 

(Cane.  IV,  89) 
Algunos  premios  o  agradecimientos. 

(El.  I,  92) 
De  daros  cuenta  de  los  pensamientos. 

(Ep.,  2) 
Con  la  memoria  de  mi  desventura. 

(Egl.  I,  369) 
Al  sueiio  a3^udan  eon  su  movimiento. 
(Egl.  II,  76) 
Del  mal  ageno  de  la  eompafiera. 

(Egl.  II,  282) 
El  largo  lianto,  el  desvaneeimiento. 

(Egl.  II,  495) 
De  mi  gran  culpa  aquel  remordimiento. 

(Egl.  II,  497) 
Salir  el.humo  de  las  easerias. 

(Egl.  II,  1871);i 

It  will  be  observed  that  with  one  excep- 
tion, all  the  examples  occur  in  a  line  ending 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


283 


with  a  word  of  four  or  more  syllables,  in 
which  the  eighth  syllable  is  necessarily 
unstressed. 

Aside  from  these  unquestionable  ex- 
amples of  deviation  from  the  normal  types, 
there  are  several  cases  in  which  it  is  neces- 
sary to  place  the-  secondary  stress  on  a 
normally  weak  syllable,  if  the  lines  are  to 
conform  to  the  usual  rules.     Such  Hnes  as: 

Xo  pierda  mas,  quien  ha  tanto  perdido. 
(Son.  VII,   1) 
^le  quito  al  mundo  y  me  ha  en  ti  sepultado. 

(Son.  XVI,  13) 
En  un  temor  que  me  ha  puesto  en  olvido. 
(Cane.  IV,  157) 
Tentar  el  mal  y  si  es  malo  el  sucesso. 

(Egl.  II,  824) 
Aguas  metido  podra  ser  que  al  llanto. 

(El.  I,  164) 

should  be  considered  in  the  class  with  ac- 
cents on  the  fourth  and  seventh  syllable, 
for  the  auxiliaries  aver  and  ser  are  essen- 
tially atonic.^  In  like  manner,  there  is  no 
normal  stress  between  the  fourth  and  tenth 
syllables  in  the  lines : 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


284 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

A  defenderme  de  lo  que  has  querido. 

(Son.   VII,   4) 
Mas  si  de  cerca  soy  acometido. 

(Son.  XVIII,  12) 
Acabe  yd;   pues  es  tan  celebrada. 

(Cane.  I,  15) 
Alguna  parte  de  lo  que  yo  siento. 

(Cane.  IV,  145) 
Se  eontradizen  en  lo  que  profieren. 

(El.  II,  15) 
Algunos  dellos,  que  eran  infinitos. 

(Egl.  II,  227) 
Se  engarrafava  de  la  que  venia. 

(Egl.  II,  288) 
For  un  testigo  de  tu  mal  processo. 

(Egl.  II,  828) 
Moverme  ya  de  mal  exereitada. 

(Egl.  II,  836) 
De  Nemoroso  fue  tan  eelebrada. 

(Egl  III,  252)1 

Aside  from  these  forms,   all   of  which 
have  their   prototypes  in   Dante   and  in 
Petrarch,  there  occur  in  Garcilaso's  work 
several  lines  of  another  type,  namely,  with 
stresses  on  the  second,  eighth,  and  tenth 
syllables, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

285 

Que  ya  no  me  refrenara  el  temor. 

(Cane.  11,  36) 
En  lagrimas,  como  al  lluvioso  viento. 
(El.  I,  23) 
Descojolos  y  de  un  dolor  tamaiio. 

(Egl.  I,  355) 
Juntandolos,  con  iin  cordon  los  ato. 

(Egl.  I,  363) 
Mas  todo  se  convertira  en  abrojos. 

(Egl.  Ill,  343) 

Irregular  as  they  are,  and  foreign  to  that 
conception  of  the  hendecasyllable   which 
divides  it  into  phrases  of  seven  and  four, 
or  of  five  and  six  syllables,  it  is  noteworthy 
that  the  number  of  syllables  between  the 
stresses  is  no  greater  than  in  the  type  whose 
first  stress  falls  on  the  sixth  syllable,  or 
that  with  stresses  on  the  fourth  and  tenth 
syllables,  and  that  the  rhythm  of  the  line 
as  a  whole  is  equally  well  preserved. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  of  the  ex- 
amples of  variation  from  the  two  common 
Petrarchan  types,   only   one  is  from  the 
last  of  Garcilaso's  longer  poems,  Eclogue 
III.     We  may  well  believe  that  had  he 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

286 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

lived  to  prepare  his  works  for  publication, 
he  would  have  pruned  away  many  of  the 
irregularities  of  his  first  attempts  with 
that  same  meticulous  care  which  character- 
ized his  Italian  contemporaries.  But  this 
was  not  permitted  to  him  and  such  changes 
as  may  have  been  made  by  his  literary 
executor,  Boscan,  were  not  likely  to  pro- 
duce verses  of  purely  Italian  cadence,  if 
we  may  judge  from  the  latter's  own  com- 
positions. The  fact  remains,  however, 
that  Garcilaso's  technique  was  not  perfect, 
as  the  editions  which  his  annotators  pre- 
pared have  led  us  to  believe.  His  verses 
show  precisely  the  uncertainties  and  hesi- 
tations which  we  should  expect  to  find  in 
a  beginner. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  to  find  in  his 
verses  several  types  which  reveal  the  in- 
fluence of  his  own  Castilian  measures.  In 
the  edition  of  Barcelona  there  are  at  least 
twenty-three  lines  of  twelve  syllables, 
which  may  be  grouped  as  follows: 

(a)  Lines  composed  of  a  verse  of  re- 
dondilla  mayor,  followed  by  its  quebrada, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

287 

Esfuerga  con  la  miseria  |  de  tu  estado. 

(Son.  IV,  7) 

Enciientrase  en  el  camino  |  facilmente. 

(Son.  VIII,  5) 

Y  ansi  ando  con  lo  que  siento  |  differente. 

(Son.  IX,  8) 
Quanto  el  fiero  Eaderique  |  de  Toledo. 
(Egl.  II,  1213) 
Puesque  no  la  ha  quebrantado  |  tu  partida. 

(Egl.  I,  266) 
Donde  descansar  y  siempre  1  pueda  verte. 

(Egl.  I,  405) 
A  lo  menos  aprovecha  1  yo  te  digo. 

(Egl.  II,  352) 
Como  si  yo  fuesse  un  lefio  j  sin  sentido. 
(Egl.  II,  989) 
Aviendo  ya  contemplado  |  una  gran  piega. 

(Egl.  Ill,  81) 
Recogido  le  lie va van  |  alegrando. 

(Egl.  Ill,  294) 
(b)     Lines  composed  of  a  verse  of  re- 
dondilla    mayor,     agudo,    followed    by    a 
quintanary  (five-syllable  line) : 

He  perdido  quanto  bien  ]  de  vos  espero. 

(Son.  IX,  7) 

El  alamo  v  el  laurel  1  v  el  mirtho  callen. 

(Egl.  Ill,  360) 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

288 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


(c)  Lines  composed  of  a  perfect  septen- 
ary, followed  by  a  quint anary,  instead  of 
a  quaternary: 

Si  quexas  y  lamentos  |  pudieron  tanto. 
(Son.  XV,  1) 
Como  senti  tus  leyes  |  tan  rigurosas. 

(Son.  XXV,  2) 

El  viento  sus  cabellos  |  y  con  su  vista. 

(El.  I,  239) 

Y  en  el  rigor  del  yelo  |  y  en  la  serena. 

(El.  II,  187) 

(d)  Lines  composed  of  a  quintanary, 
followed  by  a  septenary: 

Mas  tan  cansada  |  de  averse  levantado. 
(Son.  IV,  2) 
Muerte,  prisiones  |   no  pueden  ni 

embaragos.  (Son.  IV,  12) 

Valgame  agora  ]  jamas  aver  provado. 

(Son.  VII,  3) 
Que  reffrenaron  |   el  curso  de  los  rios. 

(Son.  XV,  2) 
Porque  son  duros  ]  y  tienen  fundamentos. 

(Son.  XX,  7) 
Cantando  el  uno  |  y  el  otro  respondiendo. 
(Egl.  Ill,  304) 


HI  SPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND     WORKS 

289 

In  lines  such  as  those  of  (a)  and  (b), 
the  rhythm  of  the  Hne  is  frankly  trochaic 
in  several  of  the  examples  and  they  seem 
to  reveal  the  influence  of  the  normal  Cas- 
tiHan  verse.    It  may  be  remarked  that  the 
lines  in  group  (d)  also  have  stresses  with- 
out exception  on  the  seventh  syllable  and 
should  perhaps  be  included  with  those  of 
(a)  and  (b).    In  the  lines  of  groups  (c)  and 
(d),  it  is  probable  that  the  syllable  after  the 
stress  was  felt  as  hypermetric.       Such  a 
usage,  natural  in   Spain,    where  it    was 
an  essential  feature  of  the  verses  of  arte 
mayor,  is  not   without   its  counterpart  in 
the  Italian  poets.    Thus  we  find  numerous 
examples    in  the   work   of    the    fifteenth 
century  Neapolitan  poet,    Francesco    Ga- 
leota,  especially  in  his  Frotola  in  gliomaro, 
as, 

Ho  presso  alquanto  ardire  |  de  basso 
inzegno.i 

Neither  the  gliommero  nor  the  arte  mayor 
seem  ever  to  have  lost  their  character  of 
two   distinct   lines   within   a   single   line. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

i 

290 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

When  the  first  half-Hne  ended,  and  the 
second  half -line  began,  with  a  vowel,  a 
septenary  and  a  quintanary  or  a  quintanary 
and  a  septenary  together  formed  a  perfect 
hendecasyllable.    And    this    happened    so 
frequently  in  practise,  that  it  became  the 
rule.     Garcilaso's  use  of  the  two  half -lines 
independently  may  be  traced  in  part  to 
the  native  usage  in  this  respect  and  in 
part  to  his  acquaintance  with  the  Neapol- 
itan school. 

It  is  not  surprising,  either,  that  we  should 
find  in  his  work  a  few  examples  of  actual 
lines  of  arte  mayor, 

La  fuerga  de  en  quien  |  ha  de  essecutarse. 

(Cane.  I,  16) 
Bramando  parece  |  que  respondian. 

(Egl.  II,  513)1 

Lines    of    eleven    syllables    are    naturally 
frequent  in  the  verses  of   arte   mayor  of 
Juan  de  Mena  and  the  other  masters  of 
the  form  and  in  the  works  of  Boscan  they 
constantly  appear  to  disturb  the  rhythm 
of  his  verse. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

291 

In  the  canciones  there  appear  two  Unes 
of  nine  syllables, 

He  lastima  que  van  perdidas. 

(Cane.  II,  9) 

Fueren  de  alguno  enfin  halladas. 

(Cane.  III.  64) 

where    the    stanza    structure    calls    for    a 
hendecasy liable.    Their  occurrence  in  the 
canciones  alone,  amid  hendecasy Uables  and 
septenaries,   would  arise  not   unnaturally 
from  the  uncertainty  incident  to  the  use 
of  this  little  practised  form. 

As  for  the  septenaries  of  Garcilaso,  they 
offer  no  peculiarity  worthy  of  comment, 
other  than  a  tendency  to  preserve  a  strictly 
iambic  rhythm.     Lines  such  as 

Ni  con  freno  Ja  rige.     (Cane.  V,  39) 
are  rare. 

b.       SYNAERESIS  AND  DIAERESIS 

The.  practice  of  the  Castilian  poets  be- 
fore the   sixteenth   century  in   regard   to 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

292 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

synaeresis,  diaeresis,  synaloepha  and  hiatus 
had  been  extremely  irregular  and  it  is  not 
to  them  but  rather  to  the  Italian  models 
of  Garcilaso  that  we  must  look  to  find  the 
general  principles  on  which  he  based  his 
practise.  But  we  must  also  bear  in  mind 
the  characteristic  differences  in  pronun- 
ciation between  Tuscan  and  Castilian  to 
explain  those  rules  in  which  he  diverges 
from  his  models.  For  the  sake  of  clarity, 
we  shall  use  the  term  "synaeresis"  to  de- 
note the  pronunciation  in  a  single  syllable 
of  any  two  adjacent  vowels  within  a  word, 
"diaeresis"  to  denote  the  division  into  two 
syllables  of  any  such  vowels.  "Syna- 
loepha" will  be  used  to  signify  the  pronun- 
ciation in  a  single  syllable  of  the ,  final 
vowel  of  one  word  and  the  initial  vowel  of 
the  following  word;  "hiatus"  the  division 
into  two  syllables  of  any  such  vowels. 

The  general  rules  of  Garcilaso's  use  of 
synaeresis  and  diaeresis  may  be  stated  as 
follows: 

I.  Any  two  adjacent  vowels,  stressed 
on  the  first  vowel,  coimt  as  a  single  syllable. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

1 
LIFE     AND     WORKS     [     293 

When  the  combination  is  one  of  a  strong 
vowel  (a,  e,  o)  followed  by  a  weak  vowel 
(i,  u),  forming  a  true  diphthong,  the  rule 
is  followed  without  exception. 

d-u  -  Notable  caussL  diste.     (Egl.  I,  149)1 
d-y  -  Hinchen  el   avre   de   dulce  armonia. 

(Egl.  II,  69) 
e-u  -  Viene  a  sacarme  de  la  deuda.  un  dia. 

(Son.  XXVI,  13) 
e-y  -  Por  donde  vos  sabe  vs  que  su  processo. 

(El.  II,  26) 
d-u  -  No  example. 
d-y  -  Estoy  muriendo  y  aim  la  vida  temo. 

(Egl.  I,  60) 

Stressed   a,   followed  by  either   of  the 
strong  vowels,  e  or  0,  count  as  a  single 
syllable  in  the  only  examples  found: 

d-e  -  Del   caso   la   grandeza   trae   consigo. 

(Egl.  II,  1580)2 
d-o  -  Quedaos    a    Dios,    que    ya    nuestros 
oydos.     (Egl.  II,  635) 
It  is  probable  that  these  combinations 
were  pronounced  then,  as  still  in  popular 
Castilian,  di  and  dii. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

294 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

The  combination  of  the  identical  vowels, 
ee,  is  treated  as  a  single  syllable : 

A  que  dess^e  tomar  a  ver  un  dia. 

(Son.  XXVI,  13) 
No  \ee  la  llena   plaga.    (Egl.   II,  44; 
other    examples:    Egl.    II,    1549; 
Egl.  Ill,  329,  349) 
This  usage  corresponds  with  current  pro- 
nimciation;    the  group  ee  is  either  simpli- 
fied (M.S.  ve)  or  becomes  ey  {desey,  crey). 

The  groups  ea,  eo,  ia,  and  to  in  general 

follow  the  rule,  but  with  some  exceptions: 

e-a  -  Un  rato  sea  de  mi  la  grave  carga.    (El. 

II,    170;    also:   Ep.,   61;    Egl.    II, 

148,  617,  630) 

Exceptions:    De  tal  arte  pele-an  noche 

y  dia.     (Son.  IX,   13;    also:    Egl. 

1, 142) 

e-o  -  Nunca  entre  si  los  veo  sino  reflidos 
(Son.  IX.  12;   also:   Egl.  II,  4) 
Exception:    Aqueste  es  el  dess^-o  que 
me  lleva.     (Son.  XXVI,  12) 

i-a  -  Sefiora  mia,   si   yo  de  vos  ausente. 
(Son.  IX,  I ;    54  examples) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  295 


Exceptions:  La  dulce  compan/-d  amar- 
ga  y  dura.  (Son.  XVII,  7;  also 
Son.  XXV,  10;  Egl.  II,  531,  623, 
793,  835;  Egl.  Ill,  123,  137) 
i-o  -  A  poder  mio  y  a  mi  consentimiento. 
(Son.  VII,  19;  also:  Son.  VIII,  6; 
Cane.  Ill,  53;  Egl.  II,  920.  1472, 
1590,  1754;   Egl.  Ill,  201) 

Exceptions:     Del    seco    est  i-o    el    gran 
calor  ardiente.    (Egl.  II,  234;  also: 
Egl.  II,  839,  1078,  1602) 
Of  the  fifteen  cases  of  diaeresis  in  these 
four  groups,  ten  occur  when  the  stress  on 
the  first  vowel  is  reinforced  by  a  secondary 
line-stress.     This    treatment  becomes  the 
rule,  which  is  followed  without  exception, 
when  the  word  stress  is  reinforced  by  (i) 
a  main  Hne-stress  or   (2)  by  a  secondary 
stress  on  an  inner  rhyme. 
e-a  (i)  Mas    elada    que    nieve.    Galate-a. 
(Egl.  I,  59) 
(2)  No  example.     Cf.  above:    pele-an. 
e-o   (i)  Y  quanto  yo  escrivir  de  vos  &es,se-o. 
(Son.  V^  2) 


AND    MON  OGRAPHS 


296 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

(2)  Que  tienes  gran  desse-(9  de  juntarte. 
(Egl.  II,  968) 
i-a   (i)  Yva  pensando  y  discurriendo  un 
&i-a.     (Ep.,  28) 
(2)  Que  por  alguna  vi-a  te  avisasse. 
(Egl.  II,  361) 
i-o    (i)  Reputandolo    yo    por     desvari-o. 
(Egl.  I,  114) 
(2)  Anda  a  buscar  el  ivi-o  desta  yerva. 
(Egl.  II,  739) 

Garcilaso's  practise  in  regard  to  these 
groups  is  precisely  that  of  Petrarch  and 
his  successors  in  Italian  and  this  may  be  a 
sufficient  explanation.     But  it  is  important 
to  note  that  the  groups  ia  and  io  frequently 
suffered  a  shift  of  stress  in  Old  Spanish,  as 
is  witnessed  by  such  imperfects  as  durmia 
and  sintia.     Similarly,  the  groups  ea  and 
eo  became  in  speech,  ed,  eo,  and  then  id, 
id,  that  is,  ya,  yo. 

II.     Any  two  adjacent  vowels  stressed 
upon  the  second  vowel  (except  id,  ie,  id, 
and  ue)  count  as  two  syllables. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  297 


a-e  -  Toma  a  ca-er,  que  dexa  a  mal  mi 

grado.     (Son.  IV,  3) 
Los     tiros     y     sa-etas     pongonosas. 

(Son.  XVI,  4;    sa-eta  also  in  Cane. 

V,  102) 
Para  eseaparse  no  le  fue  ma-^stro. 

(Egl.  II,  262;  ma-estro  also  in  Egl. 

II,  355.  695,  709,   785,  841,   1308, 

133s,  1622) 
Yo  para  mi  tra-er  solo  un  eomado. 

(Egl.   II,  899) 
a-i  -  Y  a  ver  los  passos  por  do  me  ha 

tva-ydo}     (Son.  I,  2;  tra-ydo  also 

in  Egl.  II,  721) 
La  qual  a  un  llano  grande  yo  tra- 

hidi.^^     (Egl.  II,    266;    tra-hia   also 

in   Egl.  II,  1273,    135s;    Egl.  Ill, 

221) 
Y    en    torcidas    ra->'zes    se    bolvian. 

(Son.    XIII,    8;     ra-yzes    also    in 

Cane.  IV,  75;   Egl.  Ill,  165) 
De  perseguir  al  triste  y   al   ca-ydo. 

(Cane.  I,  36;    ca-ydo  also  in  Egl. 

II,  852) 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


298. 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

• 

La   gente   se   ca-hia  medio   muerta. 

(Egl.  II,  1233) 
a-o  -  De  quien  podre  yo  a-ora.     (Cane.  II, 

16;   also  in  Egl.  II,  138) 
Exception :     No  me  den  pena  por  lo  que 

aovsi  digo.     (Cane.  II,  35) 
e-d  -  En  tantos  bienes  porque  desse-astes 

(Son.  X,  13;   desse-ar  also  in  Cane. 

IV,  45,  48;    Egl.  I,  104,  322;    Egl. 

II,  321,  473,  1124,  1135,  1416) 
Estava    yo    a    mirar    y    pele-ando. 

(Cane.  IV,  41) 
Entonees     yo     sentime      salte-ado. 

(Cane.  IV,  53) 
Con  vuestra  soledad  me  reere-ava. 

(Egl.  I,  248;    recre-ar  also  in  Egl. 

II,  761) 
Las  plumas  blanque-ando  solas  fuera. 

(Egl.   II,   727;     hlanque-ar  also  in 

Egl.  II,  1437,  1692) 
No    torres     de     fossado     rode-adas. 

(Egl.  II,  959;    rode-ar  also  in  Egl. 

II,  1728) 
iA  nympha  desle-al!     y  dessa  suerte. 

(Egl.  II,  865) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

299 

Quanto    senore-aron    de    aquel    no. 

(Egl.  II,  1180) 
Hazia  el  agua  se  fueron  passe-ando. 

(Egl.  Ill,  280) 
e-i  -  En   el   ya   se   mostravan   y   le-hian. 

(El.  I,  70;    le-hia  also  in  Egl.  II, 

1282) 
La  sombra  se  ve-hia.     (Egl.  I,  414; 

ve-hia  also  in  Egl.  II,  1215,  1272, 

1 731;  Egl.  Ill,  217) 
Y  en  tin  desassossiego  no  cre-yhle. 

(Egl.  II,  318)  . 
Con    essa    dura    mano,    descre-^^do. 

(Egl.    II,    848;     descre-ida  also  in 

Egl.  II,  1631) 
o-d  -  El  trabajo  constante  y  tan  lo-ahle. 

(Egl.  II,  1445;    lo-ahle  also  in  Egl. 

Ill,  28) 
o-e  -  Piensas  que  es  otro  el  fuego  que  en 

0-eta.     (El.  I,  253) 
Obras    y   hermosura    a    los    po-^tas. 

(Cane.  V,  105) 
o-i  -  Mas  nunca  fue  la  voz  del  las  o-yda.. 

(Son.    XXIX,    11;     o-yr    also    in 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

300 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Egl.  I,  383,  410;   Egl.  II,  122,  635, 
1588;   Egl.  Ill,  43,  45,  64,  283,  286, 
289) 
0-6  -  De   su   saber   la   fuerga   con   lo-oves. 
(Egl.  II,  1087;    lo-ores  also  in  Egl. 
1,40) 
u-d  -  Tanto  que  no  pudiera  el  manti^-ano. 
(Egl.  I,  173) 
Con   el   sw-ave   canto   enterneciesse. 
(Cane.  V,  7 ;   su-ave  also  in  Egl.  II, 
1162;   Egl.  Ill,  285,  295) 
Exceptions:     El   swave   olor   del   prado 
florecido.     (Egl.  II,  15;    suave  also 
in  Egl.  Ill,  74) 
lid  after  g  and  q  is  never  broken : 
Y  hizo  ygual  al  pensamiento  el 

arte.     (Son.  XXI,  14) 
Entonces,  como  qwando  el  cisne 
siente.     (Egl.  II,  554) 
u-i  -  Ni   aquel   fiero   ru-ydo   contrahecho. 
(Son.  XVI,    6;    ru-ydo   or   ro-ydo 
also  in  Cane.  Ill,   i;    El.   I,   197; 
Egl.  I,  164;    Egl.  II,  13,  65,  217, 
564,  1208) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

301 

Mi   razon   y   ]u-yzio   bien   creyeron. 
(Cane.  IV,  24;  ju-yzio  also  in  Egl. 

I,  133,  136) 

Y  el  passo  ya  eerrado  y  la  hzi->'da. 
(Cane.  IV,  112;    hii-yr  also  in  El. 

II,  169) 

Del  grave  peso  y  de  la  gran  ru-yns.. 
(EL  I,  200;   ru-yna  also  in  Egl.  II, 
1067) 
A     ser     restitM->'do.     (Egl.     I,     22; 
restitu-hia  also  in  Egl.  II,  1468) 
Exceptions:     La  claridad  contempla,  el 
rw/ydo  siente.     (Cane.  IV,  98) 
Es  aqueste  desc«vdo  suelto  y  puro. 
(Ep.,   10) 
Muy  (Egl.  I,  5,  ete.)  and/w>'  (Egl.  I,  184, 
etc.)  are  always  monosyllables;   they  both 
are  properly  atonic  forms. 
u-d  -  Manso,  cuerdo,  agradable,  virt«-oso. 
(Egl.  II,  904) 
iO  gran  saber!     10  viejo  frutw-oso! 
(Egl.  II,  1 1 29) 
It  is  worthy  of  comment  that  all  the 
groups  mentioned   in   the   above   list   are 

AND     MONOGRAPHS 

302 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

either    derived    directly    from    Latin    or 
Greek,  or  arise  from  the  loss  of  an  inter- 
vocalic consonant.! 

Latin   forms   are:     traer,   recrear,    man- 
tuano,  suave,  virtuoso,  frutuoso,  ruyna,  and 
restituyr.      Oeta     and     poeta     are     Greek 
(through  Latin).    The  following  show  the 
loss    of   an   intervocalic    consonant:     caer 
{*cadere),  saeta  {sagittam),  maestro  {magis- 
trum),   aora   {ad  or  am),   rayzes   {^radices), 
desleal    {*dislegalem),    leer    {*legere),    veer 
(videre),  creyble  (credibilem),  loable  {lauda- 
hilem),    oyr    (audire),    juyzio    (iudicium), 
huyr  {*fugtre),  and  ruydo  {rugltum). 

It  is  further  interesting  that  with  five 
exceptions,   (ma-estro,  Egl.  II,  695,   1335, 
and  su-ave.  Cane.  V,  7;  Egl.  II,  11 62;  Egl. 
Ill,  285),  there  is  no  case  of  the  diaeresis 
of  these  vowels  unless  the  stressed  vowel 
is   reinforced  by  the  main   or   secondary 
line-stress.     This  tendency  to  avoid  diae- 
resis in  other  parts  of  the  Hne  is  already 
evident  in  the  Italian  poets  from  Dante  on; 
in  Garcilaso,  it  becomes  almost  a  rule. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

303 

The  groups  id,  ie,  id,  and  ue  call  for 
special  notice.     As  in  the  groups  which  we 
have  just  examined,  when  the  combination 
arises    from   the    loss    of    an   intervocalic 
consonant,  diaeresis  occurs. 
i-d  -  Ya    de    bolver    estoy    desconfi-ado. 

(Son.  Ill,  5;    desconfi-anqa  also  in 

Son.  IV,  4;    Cane.  IV,  89;    conji- 

anqa  in  Egl.  II,  11 93) 
Fi-ar  el  mal  de  mi   que  lo  posseo. 

(Son.  XII,  8) 
Apenas  en  el  agua  resfrf-ado.     (Son. 

XII,  14;    resfri-ado  also  in  Egl.  II, 

452;   enfri-ava  in  Cane.  IV,  40) 
Quien    tras    ella    gu^-ara    ygual    su 

curso.      (Egl.    II,     1429;     gui-ada 

also  in  Egl.  II,  1606) 
i-e  -  Y  tu,  ingrata,  vi-endo.     (Egl.  I,  392; 

ri-endo  also  in  Egl.  II,  13 20)^ 
i-d  -   No  example, 
u-e  -  Estava  en  su  cvu-eza.     (Cane.  I,  11; 

cru-eza  also  in  Egl.  I,  382;   Egl.  II, 

709,  1222) 
Con  processo  cr«-d  y  riguroso.     (El. 

I,  191) 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

304 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

• 

When  these   combinations   are   derived 
from    other    sources,    synaeresis    usually 
occurs,  with  certain  exceptions  in  the  case 
of  words  which  represent  an  original  Latin 
combination. 

id  -  Que  aun  aliviar  con  quexas  mi  cuydado. 
(Son.  II,  3;    aliviar  also  in  Egl.  II, 

372,  377,   1573) 
Por  donde  suelen  yr  las  remedmdas. 

(Cane.  II,  10) 
El  alma  suelta  con  bolar  livfano.     (El. 

II,  129;  liviano  also  in  Egl.  II,  1477, 
•      1565,  1607,  etc.) 
Delias  al  negocfar  y  variando.     (El. 

n,  32) 

Pareceme    que    buelo,    despreciando. 

(EgL  II,  887;   despreciar  also  in  Egl. 

II,  1522) 
Donde  el  cristiano  estado  estava  en 

dubio.      (Egl.    II,     1493;     cristiano 

also  in  Egl.  II,  1198) 
Denunczava     el     aurora     ya     vezina. 

(Egl.  II,  551) 
Escurecerse  toda  y  enturviarse.    (Egl. 

11,  8) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  305 


Que  de  los  tiemos  ramos  van  rum/ando. 

(Egl.  II,  1733) 
Exceptions:     Que    en    imaginacion    tan 

var/-able.     (Cane.  IV,  122) 
Delias  al  negociar  y  varz-ando.     (El. 

II,  ^2;    vari-ar  also  in  Egl.  II,  447, 

1685,  946;   Egl.  Ill,  172,  265) 
A  los  hombres   reserva,   tu,    D/-ana. 

(Egl.  II,  740;    Di-ana  also  in  Egl. 

II,  173,  752,  802) 
A  los  que  le  cr/-avan.     Luego  estava. 

(Egl.  II,  1307;    cri-anqa  also  in  Egl. 

II,  1341) 

Que  el  agua  disponia  al  gran  v/-aje. 

(Egl.  II,  1603;   17-0;'^  also  in  Egl.  II, 

1469) 
El     cauto     Itali-ano    not  a    y    mira. 

(Egl.  II,  1545) 
Phillodoce,  Df-amane  y  Climene.  (Egl. 

III,  55;    Di-amene  also  in  Egl.  Ill, 

145) 
Por    el    herv^or    del    sol    demas/-ado. 
(Cane.  I,  2) 
All   of   these   words,    except    criar   and 
demasiado,    represent    an    original    Latin 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


306 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


combination;  criar  shows  a  similar  com- 
bination in  Latin  creare,  and  demasiado  is 
based  on  demasia. 

Of  greater  significance  is  the  fact  that 
Petrarch  has  diaeresis  in  vari-are,  (Son. 
CCCV,  13),  Di-ana  (Madr.  I,  i),  cre-are 
(Canz.  XXIX,  108),  and  vi-aggio  (Son. 
LXII,  10).  On  the  other  hand  none  of 
the  words  in  which  synaeresis  occurs  in 
Garcilaso  have  cognate  forms  in  Dante  or 
Petrarch,  except  cristiano,  which  occurs, 
also  with  synaeresis,  in  Petrarch's  Trionfo 
delta  fama,  (II,  142).  Finally  it  should  be 
noted  that  in  every  case  where  diaeresis 
occurs,  the  word-stress  is  reinforced  by  the 
main  or  secondary  line -stress. 
id  -  Mi  inclinaczf?n,  con  quien  ya  no  porfio. 

(Son.  VI,  12;   also  in  the  ending  -ion 

without  exception) 
Del  oro  se  esQOgio  con  buelo  presto. 

(Son.  XXIII,  6;    also  in  the  verbal 

ending  -id  without  exception) 
Y  en  lo  secreto  sabe  D/os  en  quanto. 

(El  I,   14;     Dios  and  diosa  without 

exception) 


HI  SPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND     WORKS     '    307 

Por    manos    de    Vulcano    artificiosas. 

(Son.  XVI,  3;    also  in  the  ending 

-doso  in  curioso,   (Ep.,   11;  Egl.   II, 

1736);  codicioso  (Ep.,  js)',  embidiosa 

(El.  I,  98);  espaciosa  (Egl.  II,  1043); 

gracioso   (El.   I,    235;     Egl.   I,    278; 

Egl.  II,  10^^);  ocioso  (Son.  XXVI,  5; 

Egl.   II,   237);    lluvioso  (El.   I,   23); 

and  ravioso  (Egl.  Ill,  180) 
Respuesta   tan   azeda   y   tan   od/osa. 

(Egl.  II,  403) 
Exceptions:     No    las    francesas    armas 

odz-osas.     (Son.    XVI,    i;     odi-oso 

also  in  Egl.  Ill,  160) 
Convertida  en  vi-olsi.     (Cane.  V,  28) 
Tan    glorf-osa    frente.     (Egl.    I,    37; 

glori-oso  also  in  Egl.  II,  1236,  1694, 

1759) 

Odioso,  viola,  and  glorioso  are  regularly 
found  with  diaeresis  in  the  works  of  Dante 
and  Petrarch.  They  also  represent  original 
Latin  combinations. 

Garcilaso's  use  of  the  combinations  id 
and  id  is  distinctly  at  variance  with  that 
of  the  Italian  writers,  particularly  that  of 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

308 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Petrarch.     It  is,  however,  strictly  in  keep- 
ing with  Castilian  pronunciation;  in  fact 
the  few  exceptions  which  are  found  are 
undoubtedly  a  conscious  imitation  of  his 
Petrarchan  model. 

The  combinations  ie  and  ue,  arising  from 
the  breaking  of  Latin  e  and  o,  are  true 
diphthongs  and  are  counted  as  a  single 
syllable  in  the  verses  of  Garcilaso. 
ie  -  La  mar  en  medio  y  tierras  he  dexado. 

(Son.  Ill,  i) 
ue  -Por  vos  he  de  morir  y  por  vos  muero. 
(Son.  V,  14) 

There  is  no  diphthong  when  ue  follows 
g  and  q,  as  in  guerra  or  que,  the  u  serving 
merely  to  indicate  the  pronunciation   of 
the  consonant.     In  aguero  and  aguclos,  and 
in  eloquente  the  combination  forms  a  true 
diphthong  and  is  treated  as  in  ue  from 
Latin  6. 

The    combination    ie     representing    an 
original    Latin    combination     is   regularly 
counted  as  two  syllables,  in 

Con    luenga    esperi-^ncia    sabidores. 
(El.  I,  172) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


309 


Dezildo    vos,    P/-erides,    que    tanto. 

(Egl.  I,  236) 
IMuy  sin  rumor,  con  passo  muy  qai- 

eto.     (Egl.  II,  211;    qiii-eto  also  in 

Egl.  II,  1032) 
Of  the  words  found  here,  esperienza  is 
found  with  diaeresis  in  Dante  (Purg.  XV, 
21)  and  Petrarch  (Son.  LXV,  10);  qiiieto 
with  diaeresis  in  Dante  (Parad.  XVI,  134), 
Sannazaro  (Son.  XXI,  i),  and  Ariosto 
(Orl.  fur.,  XXIII,  117,  i). 

The  most  striking  features  of  Garcilaso's 
use  of  synaeresis  and  diaeresis  are  (i)  his 
synaeresis  of  the  groups  ea,  eo,  ia  and  io, 
even  when  the  word-stress  is  reinforced  by 
a  secondary  line-stress;  (2)  his  general 
avoidance  of  diaeresis,  unless  the  word 
stress  is  reinforced  by  a  main  or  secondary 
line -stress;  (3)  his  diaeresis  of  all  groups 
bearing  the  stress  on  the  second  vowel, 
used  almost  without  exception  when  the 
group  arises  from  the  loss  of  an  interv^ocalic 
consonant,  and,  also  when  the  group  repre- 
sents an  original  Latin  group,  except  in  the 
groups  id,  and  io.     In  all  of  these  peculiari- 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


310 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

ties,  two  factors  are  evident :     the  influence 
of  Italian  prosody  and  also  the  current  pro- 
nunciation  of   Castilian.     Not   all   of   his 
rules  are  still  preserved  in  Spanish  versifi- 
cation, but  it  is  of  especial  interest  to  find 
that  they  were  accepted  as  the  norm  by 
his  followers  in  the  Golden  Age  and  that 
even  to-day  evidences  of  their  influence 
can   be   found   in   poets   of   the    Spanish 
world. 

III.     Any  two  vowels  in  an  unstressed 
syllable,  whether  before  or  after  the  stress, 
count  as  a  single  syllable. 
ae  -  Por  no  morir  como  Phaeton  en  fuego. 

(Egl.  II,  303) 
au  -  Sefiora  mia,  si  yo  de  vos  awsente.  (Son. 

IX,  I) 
ay  -  En  contra  puestas  del  a^'rado  pecho. 

(Son.  XVI,  2) 
ea  -  Con  prestas  alas  por  la  eburnea  puerta. 

(Egl.  II,  117) 
ey  -  La    dele>'tosa    play  a    estas    mirando. 

(El.  II,  146) 
ia  -  De  tunica  cubierta  de  dzamante.     (El. 

n,  95) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


311 


En  viendos  la  memorm  de  aquel  dia. 
(Egl.  II,  5) 
ie  -  Con  mas  pfedad  devria  ser  escuchada. 
(Son.  XV,  12) 
Con  que  nunca  fue  a  nad/e  defendido. 
(Cane.  II,  41) 
io  -  Era  prision  de  mas  de  un  pris/onero. 
(Egl.  II,  26s) 
Salicif?  juntamente  y  Nemoroso.     (Egl. 

I,  2) 

iu  -  Carlo  Cesar  tr/wmphante  le  abragava. 

(Egl.  II,  1503) 
00  -  Contando<7S   los   amores   y   las   vidas. 

(Son.  XI,  8)1 
ua  -  Y  giiavQcer  de  un  mal  tan  peligroso. 

(Son.  XII,  3) 
Que  por  dificultosa  y  ardzm  via.    (Egl. 

II,  1422) 

ue  -  Que  quien  tan  Iz/^ngamente.     (Egl.  II, 

689) 
uo  -  En  un  -pevpet ho  marmol,  de  las  ondas. 

(El.  I,  161) 
uy  -  Hacen  los  rwjsenores.    (Cane.  II,  10) 

There  is  no  exeeption  to  this  rule   in 
Garcilaso;     it    undoubtedly    points    to    a 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


312 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

more   marked   tendency   to   equalize   the 
value  of  two  unstressed  vowels  in  Castilian 
than  in  Italian,  where  we  occasionally  find 
examples    of   the    diaeresis    of   unstressed 
vowels  in  the  work  of  Dante  and  Petrarch, 
as  in  tri-unfando  (Petrarch,  Canz.  II,  8i; 
Dante,    Purg.    XXVI,    77)    or    vari-etate 
(Petrarch,  Son.  XCIX,  10). 

C.       SYNALOEPHA  AND  HIATUS 

Synaloepha  of  any  two  adjacent  vowels 
normally    occurs    in    Garcilaso,    without 
regard  to  the  word -stress. 

I.     Both  vowels  unstressed: 

Tu  que  ganaste  obrando.  (Egl.  1,7) 
Either  or  both  of  the  vowels  may  be  in 

an  atonic  monosyllable. 
Por  ti  la  gsquividad  y  apartamiento. 

(Egl.  I,  100) 
Un  nombre  en  todo  el  mundo.     (Egl. 

I,  8) 
0  se  cubrio  de  wn  velo.     (Egl.   II, 

687) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

313 

II.     The  first  vowel  stressed,  the  second 
unstressed. 
0  si  estara  ocupado  o  desparzido. 
(El.  II,  42) 
The  second  vowel  may  be  an  atonic 
monosyllable. 
Escucha  tu  e\  cantar  de  mis  pastores. 
(Egl.  I,  42) 

III.  The     first     vowel     unstressed,     the 

second  stressed: 
Entemecerme  siento  que  sobre  ellos. 
(Egl.  I,  356) 
The  first  vowel  may   be   an   atonic 
monosyllable. 
Y  poner  fin  a  las  querellas  qu^  «sas. 
(El.  I,  13) 

IV.  Both  vowels  stressed: 

No  se  que  alia  mtre  dientes  mur- 
murando.     (Egl.  II,  483) 

Cases  of  synaloepha  under  group  IV  are 
not  frequent,  but  there  is  no  case  of  hiatus 
in  Garcilaso's  work  to  avoid  the  synaloepha 
of  two  stressed  vowels. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

314 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Synaloepha  also  occurs  if  the  first  word 
ends  in  a  group  of  two  vowels,  whether 
unstressed  or  stressed, 

Albanfo  es  este  que  esta  aqui  dormido. 

(Egl.  II,  98) 
Produze  agora  en  camhio  estos  abro- 

jos.     (Egl.  I,  306) 
Que  della  un  punto  no  sabfa  apartar- 
me.    (Egl.  II,  181) 
or  if  the  second  word  begins  with  a  group 
of  two  unstressed  vowels. 

La  breve  awsencia  haze  el  mismo  juego. 

(El.  II,  49) 
Como  si  no  estuviera  de  alH  ausente. 
(Egl.  I,  S3) 
But  if  the  second  word  begins  with  a 
stressed  group,  there  is  hiatus  in  the  only 
examples  found, 

Mas  inficion  de  dyre  en  solo  un  diaJ 

(Son.  VI,  12) 
Me  parece  que  oygo  que  a  la  cruda. 

(Egl.  I,  376) 
Que  dun  desto  me  duelo.     (Cane.  I, 

24) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

315 

although    here,    the    hiatus    is    probably 
dependent  upon  another  cause. 

There  is  no  example  in  Garcilaso  of  the 
juxtaposition  of  a  final  stressed  group  of 
two  vowels  and  an  initial  stressed  vowel 
following,  nor  of  a  final  group  of  two  with 
an  initial  group  of  two  vowels  following. 
The  conjunction  y,  when  found  between 
two   vowels,    regularly   becomes   semi  con- 
sonantal and  prevents  synaloepha.  ^ 

De  la  sierra  de  Cuencd  y  el  govierno. 
In  three  lines  there  seems  to  be  a  viola- 
tion of  this  rule: 

Y  en  el  rigor  del  yelo  y  en  la  serena. 

(El.  II,  187) 
Cantando   el   uno   y   e\   otro   respon- 

diendo.     (Egl.  Ill,  304) 
El  alamo  y  e\  laurel  y  el  mirtho  callen. 
(Egl.  Ill,  306). 
The  first  of  these  lines  is  probably  imper- 
fect;   in  the  other  two,  the  phrase  more 
properly  calls  for  the  omission  of  the  y, 
which  is  probably  an  error  of  the  printer. 
Similarly,  the  conjunction  0,  which  in 
speech  becomes  a  u  before  another  vowel. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

316 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

and  is  so  written  before  an  o,  regularly 
prevents  synaloepha, 

Con    veros    yo,    senora    6    esperarlo. 

(Son.  Ill,  lo) 
Desnudo  espiritw  6  homhre  en  carne  y 
huesso.     (Son.  IV,  14) 
and  by  the  same  process,  the  exclamation 
iO!, 

Tomole   por  la  mano    !  0   admirable. 
(Egl.  II,  1806) 
The  only  exception  to  this  rule  occiirs  after 
an  0, 

Comigo  que  ver  mas  en  mab  0  en 
bueno.     (Cane.  I,  54) 
The   monosyllables   he,   from   aver,   and 
a  {ha),  whether  preposition  or  verb,  do  not 
prevent  synaloepha: 

Dexarte  he  en  la  ribera  do  estar  sueles. 

(Egl.   II,    1765) 
Despues  que  te  he  escuchado.     (Egl. 
n,   1843) 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that    in  both 
cases  there    are  three  e's. 
Que  es  darme  a  mtender  yo  lo  que  no 
creo.     (Son.  XII,  4;    20  examples) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

317 

Me   quito  al  mundo   y   me  ha  en  ti 
sepultado.  (Son.  XVI,  13) 
Exceptions : 

Quitalle   a   este   mal   mantenimiento. 

(Son.  XIV,  11) 
Dandomg  a  cntender  que  mi  flaqueza. 
(Cane.  I,  49) 
Initial  h  requires  a  special  discussion. 
In  the  orthography  of  the  early  sixteenth 
century  it  has  several  meanings. 

1.  It  may  represent  an  original  Latin 
h,  never  pronounced  and  written  merely 
from  an  imitation  of  classical  spelling.     In 
these  cases,   synaloepha  regularly  occurs. 

Humida  habitSLvan  del  mar  profundo. 
(EL  I,  30);  so  too,  ha  (Egl.  I,  167), 
Hircana  (Egl.  II,  563),   {h)istoria  ^ 
(Egl.  II,  no),  homhre  (Egl.  II,  935), 
{h)onesto  (Egl.  II,  819),  honor  (Son. 
XXIV,   i),  horrihle  (Egl.  II,  154), 
humana  (Egl.  II,  102),  huniido  (Egl. 

II,  571). 

2.  It  may  represent  a  Latin  initial  g, 
in  which  case  it  is  also  silent,  permitting 
synaloepha.  ^ 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

318 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

iQuien  esta  alia?     Responds  /zermano. 
(Egl.  II,  916) 

3.  It  may  be  a  paleographical  symbol   0 
indicate   the    semi -consonantal    u   in    the 
group  hue-,  which  without  the  h  might  be 
considered   ve-}^    Although   silent,   syna- 
loepha  never  occurs  before   hue,  because 
of  the  semiconsonantal  force  of  the  u  (w). 

Con  el  en  uni  huerta.  entrada  siendo. 
(Egl.  II,  1369) 

4.  It  may  represent  a  real  consonant  (a 
voiceless,  throat  continuant).     This  occurs 
whenever   the    h   is    derived    from    Latin 
initial  /  or  from  an  Arabic  initial  aspirate. 
In    these    cases,    there    is    naturally    no 
synaloepha. 

Tu  dulce  hablsi,  den  cuya  oreja  suena? 
(Egl.  I,  127) 
Habla  is  Latin  fabulam.     Other  exam- 
ples of  a  real  h  are  found  in  hado  (fatum) 
Egl.   I,   258;    halagar  {*falagare)  Egl.   II, 
944;   hallar  {*fafflare)  Egl.  I,  221;    hamhre 
{*faminem)  Egl.  I,   162;    hartar  {*fartare) 
Egl.  II,  966;    haya  {*fageam)  Egl.  II,  171; 
hazer  i*facere);  hendir  {*fendire)  Egl.   II, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

319 

1497;    hervir   (Jervire)   Egl.  II,  732;    hierro 
(Jerrum)  Egl.  II,  1365;    hijo  (Jilium)  Egl. 
II,  1 218;   hilo  (Jiliim)  Egl.  Ill,  112;   hincar 
{*figicare?)  Egl.  Ill,  166;    holganqa  {holgar 
<follicare)  El.   I,   292;    hondo   {*fundum) 
Egl.  II,  445;   hurtar  {*furtare)  Egl.  II,  892; 
huyr     {*fugire)     Egl.     II      765;      hermoso 
(Jormosiim)  Egl.  I,  317;    herir  (Jerire)  Egl. 
II,  151;    hasta  (Arabic  'atta)  Egl.  II,  145. 
Of  doubtful  origin  are  hele  (Egl.   II,   78) 
and  heme  (Egl.   II,  565),  and  the  proper 
name  Hortiga. 

In   the   third   Eclogue    there   are    four 

apparent  exceptions  to  the  aspiration  of 

this  h,  three  in  hermoso  and  one  in  herido. 

Estava  figurada  alii  la  /^ermosa.     (line 

129) 
De  la  su  Aermosa  came  despidiendo. 

(line  136) 
Con    su    venablo    en    la    mano    que 

Aermoso.     (line  176) 
Tras    esto    el    puerco    alii    se    vehia 
heri&o.     (line  177) 
There  are  certain  other  evidences  that 
this   Eclogue   was   left   in   an   unfinished 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

320 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

state,  such  as  the  faulty  rhymes  in  lines 
204,  359,  and  374,  as  well  as  the  imperfect 
line  (374)  in  the  last  octave.     It  is  proba- 
ble that  the  failure  to  aspirate  the  h  in 
these  cases  (elsewhere  hermoso  and  herido 
begin  with  a  consonant)  must  be  attributed 
to  the  hand  of  Boscan,  for  in  the  works  of 
the  latter  there  is  evident  a  considerable 
degree  of  uncertainty  in  the  treatment  of 
words    of    this    type,    and    in    particular, 
hermoso  and  herido  are  more  often  found 
with  a  silent,  than  with  an  aspirate  h. 

That  h  was  actually  pronounced  in  the 
Castilian  of  Garcilaso's  time  is  clear  from 
a  passage  in  the   Didlogo  de  la  lengua,  in 
which  Valdes  says:     "Tomo  a  dezir  que 
de  la  pronunciacion  Arabiga  le  viene  a  la 
Castellana  en  convertir  a  la  F  Latina  en  H: 
de  manera  que,  pues  la  pronunciacion  es 
con    H,  yo  no  se  por  que  ha  de  ser  la 
escritura  con  F,  siendo  fuera  de  proposito 
que  en  una  lengua  vulgar  se  pronuncie  de 
una  manera  y  se  escriva  de   otra."  ^     It 
would   seem   that    Garcilaso   was   one   of 
those  who  favored  the  use  of  /,  for  a  little 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

321 

later    Valdes    remarks:     "Huelgome    que 
OS  satisfaga;    pero  mas  quisiera  satisfazer 
a  Garci-Lasso  de  la  Vega  con  otros  dos 
cavalleros  de  la  Corte  del  Emperador  que 
yo  conozco."     But  in  the  letter  which  he 
sent  to  Seripando  in  1536,  the  autograph 
of   which   is   preserved,    he   uses   various 
forms  of  hazer  always  with  an  h  rather  than 
an  /.     At  least  we  may  be  sure  that  for  a 
Castilian,    like    Valdes    or    Garcilaso,    it 
would   have   been   difficult   to   pronounce 
these  words  without  the  h,  which  is  equival- 
ent to  saying  that  synaloepha  would  have 
been  wholly  imnatural,  but  for  a  Catalan, 
like  Boscan,  it  would  have  been  perfectly 
natural,  since  the  Catalan  language  has  at 
no  time  had  an  h  in  its  phonology. ^ 

As  further  evidence  of  the  lack  of  finish 
in   the    lines    in    question,    it    should    be 
remarked  that  the  use  of  the  Old  Spanish, 
or  Italian  form  of  the  possessive  adjective 
is   found   in   only   one    other   passage   in 
Garcilaso,   "la  mi  muerte"  (Egl.  II,  529) 
and  there  it  is  undoubtedly  an  imitation 
of    the    original     of     Sannazaro,     "Voy, 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

322 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Archadi,  cantareti  ney  nostri  monti  la  mia 
morte"  (Arcadia,  Prosa  VIII,  246-47), 
which  he  is  paraphrasing;  that  line  176,  as 
it  appears  in  the  text,  with  accents  on  the 
fourth  and  seventh  syllables  has  no  count- 
erpart in  Eclogue  III,  and  finally  that  the 
form  vehia  is  nowhere  else  used  in  Garcilaso 
except  in  the  rhyme. ^ 

Although  it  is  the  normal  practice  of 
Garcilaso  to  pronounce  in  a  single  syllable 
any  two  adjacent  vowels  in  consecutive 
words,  there  are  certain  cases  in  which  he 
permits  hiatus.  The  conditions  under 
which  this  occurs  are  as  follows : 

I.  When  the  word -stress  of  the  second 
vowel  is  reinforced  by  the  line-stress. 

En  tanta  confusion  que  nunca  oso. 
(Son.  XII,  7;   other  examples:    Cane. 

IV,  49;   El.  I,  71,  140;.  Egl.  I,  237; 

Egl.  II,  408,  604,  880,  890,  1452,  1770; 

Egl.  Ill,  297) 

Even   in  this   position   there   are   more 

examples  of  synaloepha  than  of  hiatus.   So: 

En  fin  que  comoquiera  esto  yo  &e  arte. 

(Son.   XVII,    12;     other  examples: 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

323 

Cane.  I,  25;  El.  I,  13,  40;  El.  II,  45; 

Egl.  I,  69,  106,  122,  356;    Egl.  II, 

393,  769,  1012,  1402;   Egl.  Ill,  152, 

185) 
The     tendeney    to     avoid     synaloepha 
before    the    main    line-stress    is    evident 
already  in  Dante, 

Dall'ampio  loco  ove  tornar  tu  drdi. 

(Inf.  II,  84)^ 
and  is  also  to  be  found  in  Boscan  and  the 
other  poets  of  the  Italian  school  in  Spain. ^ 
But    Garcilaso    himself    in    his    letter    to 
Seripando  writes  ''d'aqui"  and  in  the  first 
edition    of    Barcelona    readings    such    as 
"d'arte"    (Son.    XVII,    12)    are   frequent. 
As  far  as  it  is  possible  to  judge  from  the 
examples,   it   was   Garcilaso's   practice  to 
elide  two  identical  vowels  ("sobrg  ellos"), 
and  also  proclitic  monosyllables  such  as 
de,  le,  and  te;    in  other  cases  he  preferred 
hiatus. 

II.     When  the  word  stress  of  the  second 
vowel  is  reinforced  by  a  secondary  line- 
stress. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

324 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Escrito  esta  en  mi  alma  vuestro  gesto. 

(Son.  V,  I ;  before  alma  also  in  Son. 

XIX,  3;    Cane.  V,  70;    El.  I,  41; 

Egl.  Ill,  13) 
Mas  inficion  de  dyre  en  solo  un  dia. 

(Son.  XVI,  12) 
Ven,  si  por  solo  esto  te  detienes.    (Egl. 

I,   215) 
Aunque  pedir  tw  esso  no  es  cordura. 

(Egl.  11,413) 
Nunca  estable  ni  una  que  llamava. 

(Egl.  II,  1420) 
Me  parece  que  oygo  que  a  la  cruda. 
(Egl.  I,  376) 
Garcilaso's  usage  in  these  cases,  where 
the  word  stress  is  reinforced,  is  analogous 
to  his  regular  practise  of  using  diaeresis 
in  the  same  situation. 

III.     When  an  unstressed  monosyllable 
begins  a  line. 

Mt  alma  os  ha  cortado  a  su  medida. 
(Son.  V,    10;    before  alma  also  in 
Egl.   I,    269;    Egl.   II,   773;    other 
examples    before    stressed    vowels: 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

325 

Son.  XIII,  5;  Cane.  I,  24;   Cane.  V, 

84;   Egl.  II,  1096,  1340,  1352,  1358, 

1631) 

Que  en  su  dano  os  pide,  yo  querria. 

(Son   XIV,     10;     another  example 

before  an  unstressed  syllable:    Egl. 

II,  56. 

It  will  be  noted  that  there  are  no  less 

than  eight  of  the  examples  quoted  in  the 

last   two   groups   before   the   word   alma; 

and  it  may  be  added  that  there  is  no  case 

in  which  there  is  synaloepha   before    this 

word.i       The     spellings     ellagua'^     and 

ellahna,    so    frequent    in    early    Spanish 

texts,    were    undoubtedly    phonetic    and 

probably    represented    the    pronunciation 

even   in    Garcilaso's   time,    for    Francisco 

Robles  in  his  Reglas  de  or t agraphia   (1533)^ 

says,  "Escribimos  algunas  veces  /  sencilla  e 

pronunciamosla  doblada;    como  por  decir 

la  alma,  la  aguja,  decimos  ellalma,  ellaguja." 

Possibly  this  use  of  the  palatalized  /  before 

alma    and    other    words    beginning    with 

stressed  a  may  have  given  rise  to  a  feeling 

that  there  was  a  semiconsonantal  nature 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

326 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

in  the  beginning  of  these  words  which 
made  hiatus  natural.  For  alma,  it  should 
be  remarked  that  one  of  the  rare  cases  of 
hiatus  in  Petrarch  is  in  the  line, 

Che  iat,  almaPche  pensi?  avrem  mai  pace? 
(Son.  CXVII,  i) 

It  is  not  incredible  that  so  devoted  a 
follower  of  Petrarch  as  Garcilaso  should 
have  imitated  his  master  even  in  this  tri- 
fling detail. 

Of  the  other  examples  of  hiatus,  only 
one  group  seems  to  conform  to  a  definite 
principle,  that  after  an  inner  rhyme. 

Aquesta    mano    ayradd.     £sta    quedo. 

(Egl.  II,  992) 
En  quanto  me  detengo  dqui  un  poco. 

(line  1002) 
Pues  vete  tu  jornadd  y  no  entiendas. 

(line  1008) 
iQue    es    esto,  Nemoroso    y  que    cosa? 

(line  1 1 40) 
Con   ligera   corrida   y   con   ell  as.     (line 

1286) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

327 

Estava  embevecido   y  la  diosa.     (line 

1373)' 
These  cases,  few  in  comparison  with  the 
one  hundred  and  seventy  cases  in  which 
there    is    synaloepha    of    the    unstressed 
syllable  of  the  inner  rhyme  and  a  following 
syllable,  reveal  that  Garcilaso  still  had  a 
vague  feeling  that  the  septenary  and  the 
quaternary  formed  individual  units,  and  in 
a  line  such  as  the  first  cited  above,  that 
feeHng   was   the   more   natural   since   the 
quaternary    was    spoken    by-  a    different 
person  than  the  septenary."^ 

Analogous  to  this  group  are  such  cases  as: 
Lleno    de    vencimiento     i'    despojos. 

(Egl.  I,  271) 
iO  quanto  se  acabo  en  solo  un  dia! 
(Son.  XXVI,  3) 
in    which    the    hiatus    occurs    after    the 
secondary  stress. 

The  other  cases  of  hiatus  are  sporadic: 
Phaethon,  si  no,  dqui  veras  mi  muerte. 

(El.  I,  50) 
Y  se   qu^   otramente   me   aprovecha. 
(Ep.,  46) 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

328 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Yendome  alexando  cada  dia.     (Son. 

HI,  sY 
En  su  lugar  Id  mfelice  avena.     (Egl.  I, 

3oi)- 
One  line,  at  least,  shows  a  double  hiatus: 
Casi  los  passo  y  cuento  uno  a  uno. 
(Egl.   I,  362) 
illustrating  two  of  the  types  we  have  dis- 
cussed,  that  before  the  main  line -stress 
and  that  after  the  secondary  line-stress. 

The  nine  sonnets  published  by  Francisco 
Sanchez  in  1574  and  1577  conform  to  the 
various  practices  already  outlined  in  the 
last  sections,  but  as  they  were  prepared 
for  publication  by  their  learned  editor  at 
a  time  when  Garcilaso  had  already  become 
a   model    for    Castilian    sonneteers,    their 
testimony  is  of  little  value. ^      Even  the 
coplas  in  the  native  measures  follow  the 
rules  of  prosody  which  we  have  found  in 
the  verses  in  the  Italian  manner.     Thus  in 

Hiziera  no  podia  ser.  (Copla  IV,  13) 
we  have  the  usual  synaeresis  of  ia,  and  in 
El  pe-or  de  los  Troyanos.     (Copla  V,  5) 
there  is  diaeresis  in  the  group  e-6. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

329 

The   study   of   Garcilaso's   versification 
makes  clear  how  closely  he  studied  and 
followed  his   Italian  models.  But  it   also 
shows  that  his  imitation  was  by  no  means 
slavish.    When    the    genius    of    his    own 
speech  demanded  a  different  practice,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  depart  from  his  models. 
Above  all  it  bears  renewed  testimony  to 
his   fine    ear    for   musical   effect   and   his 
excellent  taste.     He  provided  Spain  with  a 
fully  perfected  technique  in  this,  the  first 
experiment  in  the  new  form. 

d.       METRICAL  COMBINATIONS 

Boscan's  explanation  of  the  origin  of  his 
interest  in  the  Italian  forms  of  verse  and 
his  statement  that  it  was  Garcilaso  who 
stimulated  his  failing  enthusiasm  by  advice 
and  example  have  always  been  taken  as  an 
evidence   of   his   priority   in   the   field   of 
experiment  in  the   Italian  forms.     There 
is,  it  is  true,  no  reason  for  questioning  the 
fact    that    it    was    Boscan,    rather    than 
Garcilaso,  who  wrote  the  first  sonnets  and 
canciones  in  Castilian  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

330 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tury.     But  concerning  the  other  metrical 
forms,  in  which  unquestioned  priority  has 
also  been  granted  to  the  former,  there  is 
much  room  for  discussion.     Let  us  examine 
briefly  the  evidence  in  the  matter. 

Aside  from  the  sonnet  and  cancion,  the 
forms  used  by  Boscan  are:     tercets,  in  his 
capitiilo  and  epistolas;   blank  verse,  in  his 
Historia  de  Leandro  y  Hero;    and  octaves 
in  his  Octava  rima.     Now  all  of  these  forms 
are  used  by  Garcilaso  as  well  and  there  is 
no  reason  why  his  experiments  in  these 
forms  may  not  be  the  first.     The  earliest 
tercets   of   Garcilaso   are   those   found  in 
Eclogue    II,    written    probably   in    1533- 
It   is   impossible   to   date   the   tercets   of 
Boscan;    the  only  evidence  available  is  at 
best  vague.     The   E  pistol  a  of    Mendoza^ 
mentions  Gutierre  de  Cetina  among  their 
friends  and  since  Gutierre  de  Cetina  was 
bom   about    1520,2   it    is   incredible   that 
Mendoza's  tercets  could  have  been  written 
as  early  as  1533;    it  is  probable  that  they 
belong  nearer  to  1540  and  hence,  Boscan 's 
Respuesta  must  be  later  than  this  date. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS     I     331 


At  least,  we  may  say  that  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  Boscan's  tercets  are  earlier  than 
those  of  Garcilaso. 

For  the  blank  verse  and  the  octaves  the 
evidence  is  more  definite.  Garcilaso 's  only 
experiment  in  blank  verse,  the  Epistola  to 
Boscan,  was  written  in  October,  1534. 
The  Historia  de  Leandro  y  Hero  reveals  a 
knowledge  of  the  poem  of  the  same  name 
by  Bernardo  Tasso.  But  Tasso's  work 
was  first  published  in  the  1537  edition  of 
his  Amori.  It  is  at  once  clear  that  the 
versos  siieltos  of  Garcilaso  antedate  those 
of  Boscan  by  several  years.  And  similar 
evidence  is  at  hand  for  the  octaves. 
Garcilaso 's  only  use  of  the  octava  rima  is 
found  in  Eclogue  III,  written  in  the  year 
of  his  death.  But  those  of  Boscan  were 
certainly  written  after  the  death  of  the 
former,  for  in  his  eulogies  of  the  famous 
poets  of  Castile,  he  refers  to  him  always  in 
the  past, 

Y  aquel  que  nuestro  tiempo  traxo  ufano, 
el  nuestro  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  .  .  . 
que  del  amor  acrecento  el  estado.^ 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


332 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

while  he  refers  to  the  living  poet  Gualvez 
always  in  the  present.     Garcilaso's  priority 
in  the  use  of  the  octave  and  the  blank  verse 
is  therefore  established,  and  to  these  forms 
should  be  added  his  use  of  the  inner  rhyme^ 
and,  of  more  permanent  importance,  the 
ode  form  which  from  his  one  example  has 
received  its  name,  the  lira.     There  is  no 
excuse  for  an  effort  to  diminish  the  fame 
of  Boscan  as  a  pioneer,  but  there  is  likewise 
no  excuse  for  striving  to  lend  him  an  un- 
warranted credit  for  a  service  which  he  did 
not    perform.     It    is    sufficient    to    have 
demonstrated  that  Garcilaso  shares  with 
his  friend  the  glory  of  initiating  his  people 
in  the  Italian  forms. 

The  metrical  combinations  of  Garcilaso, 
like  the  other  details  of  his  technique,  are 
derived  from     the     Italian    masters.     As 
might  be  expected,  in  his   Canzoniere   his 
master  is   Petrarch.     In  the  sonnets,  the 
quatrains  are  rhymed  without  exception: 
ABBA:  ABBA.  In  the  tercets  the  three 
common   rhyme-schemes   are    Petrarchan: 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

333 

CDECDE:    Son.    II-IX,    XIII,    XVII, 

XX,  XXIV. 
CDEDCE:    Son.  I,  XVIII-XIX,  XXI, 
XXIII,    XXIX,    (XXX-XXXI, 
XXXIV-XXXV). 
CDCDCD:    Son.  X-XI,  XIV,  XXVII, 

(XXXVII). 
The  other  forms  are :   ■ 
CDEDEC:  Son.  XV,  XXVI,  (XXXVI). 
Used  once  by  Petrarch  (Son.  LXXIV). 
and  also  by  Sannazaro,  Ariosto  and 
Bembo. 
CDECED:    Son.  XII,  XVI.     Used  by 

Sannazaro,  Ariosto  and  Bembo. 
CDEECD:    (Son.  XXXII).     Used  fre- 
quently by  Ariosto. 
The  unity  of  the  quatrains  and  tercets  is 
maintained  with  great  scrupulousness,  and 
in  only  two  cases  (Sons.  XVI  and  XVIII) 
do  the  quatrains  rim  over  into  the  tercets. 
The   first   four    cancioiies   are   also   Pe- 
trarchan: 

Cancion    I:    ABCBAC  icDdEeFF. 
Envoy:  xYyZzWW.  (Petrarch,  XX) 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

334 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Cancion    II:       abCabC:cdeEDfF. 
Envoy:    XyY;   This  is  the  form  of 
Petrarch's  Canzone  XIV,  with  the 
substitution    of    a    hendecasyllable 
for  the  septenary  in  the  tenth  line. 
It    is    noteworthy   that    the    sister 
canzone  in  Petrarch  (XIII)  shows  a 
variation:   abCabC:cdeeDff. 
Cancion  III:  abCabC:cdeeDfF.  En- 
voy:   xyZxyZwW.    Petrarch,  XIV, 
but  the  envoy  is  not   that   of    Pe- 
trarch (XyY).  Stanza  5  (lines  52-65) 
has  a  nine -syllable  Kne  instead  of 
a  hendecasyllable  in  the  eleventh  line. 
Cancion    IV:  ABCBAC:CDEe:FGH- 
HGFFII.    Envoy:  YWXXWYY- 
ZZ.  (Petrarch,  I) 
Cancion  V  is  intitled  an  Ode,  and  its 
form  is  taken  from  Bernardo  Tasso.     The 
rhyme-scheme  is:    aBabB,  without  envoy. 
The  first  example  of  the  use  of  this  particu- 
lar  ode -form   by   Tasso   is   found   in   the 
second  edition  of  his  Amori  (1534),  in  the 
ode  "0  pastori  feHci."  (f.  87  r«) 

For  the  longer  compositions  of  Garcilaso 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


335 


we  shall  have  to  seek  his  immediate  models 
elsewhere  than  in  Petrarch. 

Elegies  I  and  II  are  in  tercets,  begin- 
ning: ABA:BCB:CDC:etc.,  and  ending: 
XYX:YZYZ.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
trace  here  the  origin  of  the  terza  rima  in 
Italy  nor  its  varied  uses.  But  the  ques- 
tion of  the  use  of  this  title  to  describe  a 
composition  in  tercets  is  more  involved 
and  needs  an  explanation.  The  Italian 
writers  of  the  late  fifteenth  and  early  six- 
teenth centuries  had  regularly  used  the 
terms  "capitoH"  or  "epistole"  for  poems  of 
this  sort  in  tercets  and  these  are  the  titles 
used  by  Boscan.  The  first  poet,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  to  employ  the  term  "elegia" 
for  a  poem  in  tercets  which  was  not 
actually  elegaic,  was  Luigi  Alamanni,  who 
included  a  number  of  "elegie"  in  the  edi- 
tion of  his  verses  of  1532.  It  is  possible 
that  Garcilaso  knew  the  work  of  Alamanni, 
but  it  is  more  probable  that  he  received 
the  suggestion  for  the  use  of  the  term  from 
Bernardo  Tasso's  use  of  the  word  in  the 
second    edition    of    his     Amori,    already 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


336 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

' 

referred  to,  where  he  printed  six  "Elegie". 
That  Garcilaso  was  acquainted  with  the 
work  of  Tasso  there  can  be  no  doubt  and 
his  first  Elegy  shows  an  actual  imitation  of 
one  of  Tasso 's  elegies. 

The  Epistle  to  Boscan  is  in  blank  verse 
and  the  source  of  the  form  is  not  obvious. 
Although  evidences  of  its  early  appearance 
in  Italy  are  not  lacking,  the  form  never 
obtained  any  foothold  in  Italian  until  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  when 
it    was   employed   by    Trissino   with   the 
conscious    purpose    of   reproducing    Latin 
verse    effects    in    his    tragedy,    Sofonisba, 
written  in  15 15  and  first  printed  at  Rome 
in  1524.     Almost  contemporary  with  this 
is  the  Rosmunda  of  Rucellai,  published  in 
1525.     There  followed  other  tragedies  in 
the   same   metre     such   as   La    Tullia   of 
Martelli     or   the  'Antigone   of   Alamanni, 
both  of  1533.     But  these  dramatic  works, 
though   they   may   have   been   known   to 
Garcilaso,  could  hardly  have  suggested  to 
him  the  possibilities  of  the  blank  verse  for 
other  forms  of  composition. ^     Aside   from 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

337 

them,    only    one    other    work    containing 
poems  in  blank  verse  was  printed  before 
his  death,  the  Opere  toscane  of  Alamanni, 
printed    at    Lyons    in     1532    and    1533.^ 
These  two  volimies  contain  in  blank  verse, 
besides    the    Antigone,    fourteen    Egloghe, 
II  diluvio  romano,  Favola  di  Athlante,  three 
books  of  Selve,  and  the  Favola  di  Phetonte. 
Passing  over  the  longer  narrative  poems, 
which    soon   had   their   imitators    in   the 
Leandro   e    Ero   of    Bernardo   Tasso   and 
through  him,  in  the  work  of  Boscan,  it 
may  well  be  that  the  egloghe  and  selve  gave 
to  the  Spanish  poet  the  idea  of  using  blank 
verse  for  the  purpose  of  a  short  composition 
in  the  lyric  vein.     It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  Epistola  in  question  was  dated 
from    Avignon;     it    is    not    beyond    the 
bounds  of  possibility  that  Garcilaso  saw 
the  works  of  Alamanni  there  for  the  first 
time  and  immediately  proceeded  to  try  the 
metre.     His  experiment  is  brief  and  reveals 
no  mastery  of  the  form. 

The  first  Eclogue  is  composed  of  thirty 
stanzas: 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

338 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

ABCBACicddEEFeF,  without    envoy.^ 
The    rhyme -scheme    is    that    of    Petrarch 
(Canzone   V).     Garcilaso's   use   of   a   Pe- 
trarchan stanza  in  an  Eclogue  is  undoubt- 
edly suggested  by  its  use  in  the  Arcadia 
of  Sannazaro    in  Egloghe  III  and  V,  but 
as  Ticknor  observed,  to  him  belongs  the 
distinction  of  adapting  the  cancion  to  the 
purposes  of  the  pastoral  dialogue. 

The  second  Eclogue  is  polymetric: 
lines    1-37    Twelve  tercets  +  i. 

38-76    Three   stanzas  :   abCabC: 
cdeeDfF,  without  envoy.  The 
stanza  is  the  same  as  that  of 
Cancion  III. 

77-680    201  tercets  -f  i. 

681-719    Three  stanzas,  as  lines  38-76. 

720-765    Inner  rhymes,  on  the  sixth  syl- 
lable, ending  with  a  rhymed 
couplet. 

766-933    56   tercets.      The   odd   rhyme 
(line  93  2)  has  an  inner  rhyme 
in  Hne  934. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

339 

934-1031  Inner  rhymes.  The  last  line 
has  an  inner  rhyme  in  line 
1032. 

103 2-1 1 28    32  tercets  +  i. 

1129-1828  Inner  rhymes.  The  last  line 
has  an  inner  rhyme  on  the 
third  syllable  of  line  1829. 

1829-1854  Two  stanzas:  abCbaC: 
cdeeDfF,  eqmvalent  to  the 
stanzas  already  used,  but 
with  the  fourth  and  fifth 
rhymes  reversed. 

1855-1885    Ten  tercets  +  i. 

Of  the  complicated  history  of  the  poly- 
metric  eclogue  in  Italy  I  have  treated  in 
another    place. ^      For    the    present    it    is 
enough  to  say  that  the  two  chief  sources 
for  Garcilaso  in  his  use  of  the  form  were 
Sannazaro  and  Tansillo.     To  the  former 
he  owes  not  only  the  suggestion  of  the 
type,  offered  in  the  first,  second  and  tenth 
Egloghe  of  the  Arcadia,  but  also  nimierous 
details  of  execution.    Thus,  his  practise  of 
beginning  a  series  of  inner  rhymes  with  a 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

340 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

hendecasyllable  rather  than  a  septenary 
could  have  come  only  from  the   Arcadia 
{Egloga  X);   similarly  his  failure  to  break 
the  series  of  inner  rhyme  lines  into  tirades 
by  the  occasional  introduction  of  a  septen- 
ary, and  his  method  of  concatenation  of 
tercets  and  inner  rhymes   (lines  932-934) 
and   of   inner   rhymes   and   tercets    (lines 
1031-32)    or    inner    rhymes    and    stanzas 
(lines   1828-29)   are  copied  directly  from 
Sannazaro's  Egloga  X.     Nor  is  it  mere 
coincidence  that  the  stanza  form  which  he 
employs  in  two  instances,  is  precisely  that 
used  in  Egloga  V  of  the  Arcadia.^     Gar- 
cilaso's  obligation  to  Tansillo  is   less   spe- 
cific.    If  he  had  any  opportunity  to  study 
in  detail  /  due  Pellegrini,  it  must  have  been 
in  manuscript;    perhaps  he  knew  it  only 
from  some  unrecorded  representation  at 
the  Court  of  the  Viceroy  of  Naples.     His 
imitation  of  Tansillo,  then,  seems  to    be 
limited  to  questions  of  general  principle, 
such  as  the  use  of  canzone  stanzas  in  a  poly- 
metric   composition   or  the   use   of  inner 
rhyme  lines  for  ordinary  narrative,    for  in 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  341 


Sannazaro  and  the  other  Xeapolitan 
poets  they  are  normally  used  for  the  expres*- 
sion  of  nonsense  verses  or  "dark  sayings."^ 
It  should  be  remarked,  however,  that 
both  Epiciiro  and  Tansillo  had  used  freely 
rhymed  stanzas,  a  sort  of  silva,  in  their 
pastorals,  rather  than  the  fixed  Petrarchan 
stanzas,  and  the  adoption  of  this  form  in  his 
Eclogue  is  Garcilaso's  real  contribution  to 
the  structure  of  the  polymetric  eclogue. 

The  third  Eclogue  is  in  octaves.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  their  use  in  this  ec- 
logue, which  is  m\i;hological  and  allegor- 
ical, rather  than  piirely  pastoral,  is  an 
imitation  of  the  Tirsi  of  Baldassare  Casti- 
glione  and  Cesare  di  Gonzaga,  recited  be- 
fore the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Urbino  in 
1506.2  In  Italy  the  oftava  rima  is  rare  in 
the  lyrical  eclogues,  although  common  in 
the  dramatic  eclogues  and  mythological 
poemetti.  The  onl}'  example  in  a  pastoral 
poem  before  the  time  of  Garcilaso,  outside 
of  the  poem  of  Castiglione,  is  foimd  in  the 
Opere  volgari  (1532)  of  the  little  known 
poet  Luca  Valentiano.^ 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


342 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

It  remains  to  speak  a  word  concerning 
the  rhymes  in   Garcilaso's  verses  in  the 
Italian  style.     They  are  almost  without 
exception  paroxytone  (lianas) .    In  this  con- 
nection it  is  interesting  to  find  that  two 
final  unstressed  vowels  count  as  a  single 
syllable.     Thus  we  have  rhymes  in  -acia, 
-ancia,  -ario,  -ecio,  -edio,   -encia,  -eria, 
-erio,  -icia,  -icio,  -izio,  -ocio,  -oria,  and 
-uria    counting    as    normal    penultimate 
rhymes.    This  practise,  thoroughly  in  con- 
formity   with    Castilian    pronunciation, 
marks  one  of  the  fundamental  differences 
between  Spanish  and  Italian  versification. 
With  this  principle  once  established,    the 
nimiber    of    proparoxytone    words,    aside 
from  verb  forms,  remaining  in  Castilian 
was  relatively  small  and  esdrujulas  never 
gained  a  foothold  in  Spain.     There  is  in 
Garcilaso    but    one    example    of    a    true 
esdrujula  rhyme,  in  the  imperfect  ending 
-dvamos  (Egl.  II,  210-214);    but  it  shows 
the  unhappy  monotony  of  such  a  verbal 
rhyme    and    Garcilaso    nowhere    else    at- 
tempted it.^ 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

\ 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


343 


There  are  also  a  few  examples  of  oxy- 
tone  rhymes  (agudas)  in  the  canciones  and 
two  cases  in  the  sonnets.  In  Cancion  I 
there  is  an  imrhymed  line  in  the  envoy, 
ending  in  ver;  in  Cancion  II,  there  are 
rhymes  in  -ar,  -ad,  -or,  -i,  and  -e;  and  in 
Cancion  III,  there  are  rhymes  in  -er  and 
-ar.  It  is  probable  that  the  use  of  rimas 
agudas  was  considered  justified  in  a 
cancion  because  of  Petrarch's  use  of  an 
ox3rtone  rhyme  in  his  Canzone  XL  But 
there  are  also  rimas  agudas  in  two  of  Gar- 
cilaso's  sonnets,  XXVII  and  XXXII,  in 
-f  and  -al.  There  has  been  much  discus- 
sion of  the  desirability^  of  using  these 
rhymes  in  Castilian  verse,  the  principal 
justification  being  naturally  the  large 
nimiber  of  oxytone  words  in  the  language. 
They  are  not  unknown  in  Italian,  for  Dante 
has  fourteen  examples  and  Ariosto  two 
in  the  Orlando  furioso.  In  Spain  they  are 
very  common  in  Boscan  and  Diego  de 
Mendoza  in  their  verses  in  the  Italian 
measures.  It  should  be  observed,  however, 
that  the  authenticity  of  both  of  the   son- 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


344 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

nets  of  Garcilaso  in  which  they  occur  has 
been  questioned,  largely  because  of  them, 
and  the  general  absence  of  such  rhymes 
in  the  Spanish  sonnets  and  other  Italian 
forms  in  the  poets  of  the  Golden  Age  may 
be  attributed  to  Garcilaso's  example. 

Aside    from    obvious    printer's    errors, 
there  are  a  nimiber  of  faulty  rhymes  in 
Garcilaso.     Three  of  these  are  found  in 
Eclogue  III  (lines  204,  359,  and  374)  and 
are  doubtless  an  evidence  of  the  unfinished 
state  in  which  the  poet  left  this  last  poem. 
The  others  occur  in  the  inner  rhymes  in 
Eclogue    IT:      caho-hago     (lines     1006-7), 
cidehras-negras  (lines  944-45),  puedes-deves 
(lines    997-98),    Phaunos-Silvanos    (lines 
1156-57)     sangre-hambre    (lines    1205-6), 
sangre-estamhre    (lines    1242-43),    sangre- 
hambre  (lines  1663-64),  campo-blanco  (lines 
125  7-58) .    Although  there  is  no  possibility 
that    these    could    have    formed    perfect 
rhymes  to  Garcilaso,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  in  Garcilaso's  time  there  were 
some,    like   the   good    Castilian    Juan   de 
Valdes,  who  always  pronounced  the  nasal 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


345 


n  rather  than  m  before  p  and  b,  which 
would  reduce  most  of  the  examples  to  a 
simple  dissonance  between  b  and  g,  d  and 
V,  or  p  and  c.  Furthermore,  there  is  as- 
sonance in  every  case  and  the  pairs  are 
either  both  voiced  or  both  voiceless.  In 
the  case  of  Phannos,' it  should  possibly  be 
pronounced  Fattos,  as  some  of  the  editions 
have  it.  Perhaps  it  is  unnecessary  to  say 
more  than  that  they  are  evidences  of 
haste  or  carelessness,  some  of  them  involv- 
ing difficult  rhymes. 

Equivocal  rhymes  are  not  infrequent  in 
Garcilaso's  verse  but  their  use  never  de- 
generates into  abuse. ^  Occasionally  the 
same  word  seems  to  be  employed  without 
distinction  of  meaning,  as  in 

El  veloz  movimiento     parecia 
que  pintado  se  via     ante  los  ojos. 
Con  amorosos  ojos     adelante 
Carlo,  Cesar  triumphante,     le  abragava. 
(Egl.  II,  1500-3) 

Regularly,   however,   the   identical   forms 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


346 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

are  of  different  significance.     In   Sonnet 
XIX  there  is  an  instance  of  a  rhyme  word 
used  three  times, 

Julio,  despues  que  me  parti  Uorando 
de  quien  jamas  mi  pensamiento  parte, 
y  dexe  de  mi  alma  aquella  parte 
que  al  cuerpo  vida  y  fuer^a  estava  dando, 

de  mi  bien  a  mi  me  voy  tomando 
estrecha  cuenta,  y  siento  de  tal  arte 
faltarme  el  bien,  que  temo  en  parte 
que  ha  de  faltarme  el  ayre  sospirando. 

(lines  1-8) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS     ' 


347 


CHAPTER  V 

ORTHOGRAPHY,  VOCABULARY 

AND  GRAMMAR 

a.      ORTHOGRAPHY 

The  conditions  tinder  which  the  poems 
of  Garcilaso  were  pubHshed,  to  which  we 
have  so  often  referred,  make  it  impossible 
to  draw  any  conclusions  as  to  his  personal 
orthography.  But  the  text  adopted,  fol- 
lowing the  readings  of  the  edition  of  Ant- 
werp of  1544  in  respect  to  spelling,  stands 
at  least  as  an  example  of  the  ciirrent  orth- 
ography in  the  decade  after  his  death.  In 
general,  it  presents  no  striking  peculiari- 
ties; the  spellings  are  those  which  we  find 
in  other  contemporary  editions. 

A  few  of  these  spellings  are  merely  con- 
ventional and  point  to  no  divergence  from 
the  modem  pronunciation.  F  for  i  enjoys 
a  rather  frequent  usage,  being  regularly 
employed  in  the  diphthongs  ay,  ey,  oy  and 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


348 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

uy,  {ayre,  deleyte,  oygo,  cuydado),  and  often 
when  the  y  is  stressed,  as  creyhle  or  ruydo. 
Yedra,  yelo,  and  yerva  are  the  regular  forms 
and  y  is  also  used  for  initial  i  in  such  words 
as  yva,  yre,  ygual,  etc.  B  and  v  are  not 
always  employed  as  in  modern  Spanish;  b 
is  more  often  used  for  the  initial,  as  bozes, 
buelto,  etc.,  v  in  the  interior  of  the  word,  as 
escrivir,  aver,  etc.  After  n  we  find  rr,  as  in 
enrredar,  honrra,  and  Enrriquez.  Initial  h 
is  often  omitted  when  it  represents  a 
Latin  h  or  g:    istoria,  onesto,  elado. 

Another  group  of  words,  the  spelling  of 
which  differs  from  the  modern  spelling, 
although  the  pronunciation  was  not  dif- 
ferent, consists  of  words  derived  from 
Greek.  Thus  we  find  //  for  /,  ph  for  /,  ch 
for  c  or  qu,  th  for  /,  not  merely  in  proper 
names  such  as  Achilles,  Anchises,  Apelles, 
Apollo,  Daphne,  Parthenope,  Phaeton 
Phebo,  Philomena,  Phillodoce,  Phyllis  and 
Zephyr 0,  but  also  in  other  words,  such  as 
choro,  cithera,  limpha,  machina,  mirtho, 
nympha,  phantasma,  phauno,  philosopho, 
thesoro,  triumphante,  tropheo.     From  other 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

1 

LIFE     AND     WORKS          349 

languages,  we  have  Latinisms,  like  illustre, 
or  Lampetia,  and  the  use  of  qua-  for 
modem  cua-  and  double  letters,  partic- 
ularly J",  as  in  affeto,^  defender,  etc;  from 
ItaKan  come  spellings  such  as  colunna, 
Ecco  and  ginette.  Charo  for  caro  ("dear") 
is  doubtless  due  to  the  frequent  use  of 
this  form  in  Italian  writers  of  the  period. 

More  important  are  the  spellings  which 
represent  the  pronunciation  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  The  voiced  and  voiceless 
sibilants  are  constantly  differentiated;  ss, 
q  and  x,  standing  for  the  voiceless  forms, 
{passo,  caqa,  dexar),  and  s,  z  and  j  {ge,  gi) 
for  the  voiced  {glorioso,  hazer,  iiltraje). 
There  is,  however,  some  uncertainty  in  the 
use  of  ^5  and  s;  apressiira,  atravessar, 
pessado  and  press  uroso  are  also  found  with 
a  single  s;  asiento  is  regularly  written  with 
s,  but  assentado  with  ss. 

The  edition  of  Barcelona  shows  a  number 
of  older  spellings,  such  as  a  sseguir,  a 
rromper  a  rrazonar,  and  levantasse  (for 
levanla-se).  Beltad,  drecho,  and  ninyes 
reveal  the  Catalan  origin  of  the  text. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

350 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

b.      VOCABULARY 

Modern  Spanish  critics  have  universally 
commented  on  the  purity  of  Garcilaso's 
language,  remarking  that  there  is  hardly  a 
locution  to  be  found  on  his  works  which  is 
not  good  usage  in  the  speech  of  the  pre- 
sent.    It  is  true,  that  if  one  compares  his 
works  with  those  of  his  contemporaries, 
Boscan  or  Diego  de  Mendoza,  one  is  at 
once  struck  by  the  fact  that  they  are  speak- 
ing a  language  which  is  antiquated,  while 
Garcilaso  sings  a  song  of  eternal  youth. 
Part  of  this  is  due  to  the  limited  field  of 
courtly    expression    in    which    he    moves; 
part  too,  to  the  fact  that  the  constant  imi- 
tation  of   Garcilaso   has   served   to   keep 
alive   his   vocabulary.      But   even   in   his 
limited  field  there  is  a  considerable  number 
of  words  and  phrases  which  have  since  his 
time    become    antiquated,    almost    all    of 
them  current  expressions  in  his  time,  which 
prove  that  Garcilaso  was  merely  employing 
his  native  Castilian  as  any  other  gentleman 
of  his  time. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS  351 


First  of  all,  there  is  a  long  list  oi  words 
which  show  a  form  or  pronunciation  dif- 
ferent from  the  modem  form:  adevino, 
*acidente,  *  agora,  aguelos,  aparencia,  *  anti- 
go,  *a}isi,  *asconder,  *ajimtafniento,  anii- 
dar,  Bernaldino,  cativo,  *coluna,  contra- 
dicion,  cohrio,  comigo.  comover,  coHortar, 
contino,  costrenida,  *condolesca,  *cotwsco, ' 
cuhijar,  destruicion,  decendido.  did  pi  in  able, 
*desmamparada ,  ester elidad,  escodrinar,\ 
*ambevescido,  elecion,  *entramos  {=entram-\ 
bos),  *enxemplo,  esciiro,  especia  {=especie), 
espedir,  esperiencia,  esprimir.  estender,  esse- 
cutar,  Faderique,  imenso,  *iniortal,  jazen, 
lustre  {=lustro)  manifico,  ^mesclar,  *nasci, 
nudo,  redemido,  *roydo,  sentible,  *sinificar, 
Serena  {=sirena),  sospiro.  sotil,  siipito.  All 
of  these  words  are  current  in  early  Spanish. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  the  case 
of  many  of  these  words,  the  modem  form 
as  well  appears  in  otir  text  (these  I  have 
marked  with  an  asterisk),  a  ciromistance 
which  points  to  the  uncertainty  already 
prevailing  in  their  use.  This  uncertainty 
is  especially  common  in  the  use  of  e,  i,  and 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


352 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

ie,  where  we  find  arteficio,  deputar,  dispedir 
(and   other  forms  with  the   prefix  dis-), 
empedir,  enclinar,  manifesto,  medecina,  etc., 
in  addition  to  the  words  already  listed, 
beside   the   common   modern   forms.      In 
learned  words  derived  from  Latin  forms 
containing  -ct-,  the  use  of  perfeto  in  rhyme 
makes  it  certain  that  the  pronunciation 
was  with  -/-  and  this  is  the  common  spell- 
ing.    But  -ct-  is  found  in  afecto,  perfecto, 
respedo,  subjecto,  Octubre  and  victoria. 

Not  only  does  Garcilaso  use  a  nimiber 
of  words  in  an  antiquated  form  but  also 
certain   words   which   have   quite   dissap- 
peared    from    modern    speech,    such    as 
amostrar,   aquesso,   aquesto,  a  baldia,  cabe, 
de    consuno,    corajoso,    a    desora,    pensoso, 
ruinar,  superno,  tristura  and  turar.^   Others 
which  have  survived,  he  employs  in  their 
older  meaning,  which  has  now  fallen  into 
disuse :     alimana    (  =  animal) ,    amancillar 
{  =  entristecer) ,  natura  {=naturaleza),  ore] a 
(  =  oido) ,     recordar     (  =  despertar) ,     sobrar 
{ =sobrepujar),   tirar   {=quitar),  trastornar 
{=transponer),    ves    aqui    (=    he    aqui   or 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS     !     353 


aqui  tienes).  Forms  which  have  survived 
only  in  popular  speech  are  diz  and  enga- 
rrafarse.  Finally  there  are  a  few  words 
which  either  in  form  or  meaning  seem  to 
be  unique  in  Garcilaso :  alter  car  for  alternar 
(unless  this  be  a  misprint),  degollar  for 
desangrar  (although  El  Brocense  calls  this 
reading  "aquella  bestiaHdad''),  inocente 
for  libre,  pertrecho  for  pertrechos,  poner  for 
deponer.  Desbanar  (for  aliviar)  is  found  in 
at  least  one  other  passage  in  the  works  of 
Boscan. 

Garcilaso 's  long  residence  in  Italy  and 
his  intimacy  with  Italian  men  of  letters  is 
also  clearly  reflected  in  his  vocabulary. 
Some  of  his  words  are  frankly  ItaKan: 
ahastanqa,  caler  {=bajar),  carta  {=papel), 
coruscar,  cosa  (  =ique?),  domestiqueza,  dubio 
{=duda),  estampa,  estanqa,  estrecheza,  no- 
joso,  pero  {=sin  embargo),  sahatiqueza, 
viso  (  =  car  a) .  Quite  as  clear  an  evidence 
is  to  be  found  in  his  tendency  to  choose, 
of  two  equivalent  expressions,  the  one 
identical  with  the  Italian,  for  example: 
avezar  (Ital.   awezzare)  rather   than    acos- 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


354 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tumbrar,  de  modo  que  (Ital.  di  modo  che) 
for  de  manera  que,  delgadeza  and  other 
abstract  nouns  in  -eza  {Ital.  -ezza)  rather 
than  the  forms  in  -ez  or  the  older  forms  in 
-ura;  felice,  infelice,  veloce,  for  feliz,  infeliz, 
veloz;  en  torno  (Ital.  intorno)  for  al  rededor 
or  al  derredor,  propio  como  yo  for  lo  mismo 
que  yo. 

The  only  examples  of  French  words  in 
Garcilaso  are  two  conscious  Gallicisms  in 
the  Epistola  to  Boscan:    argen  and  varlete. 

The  second  Eclogue  differs  radically  in 
its  language  from  the  other  works  of  Gar- 
cilaso and  in  its  dramatic  dialogue  are  pre- 
served a  number  of  expressions  taken  from 
popular  speech,  many  of  which  still  sur- 
vive. As  instances  we  may  cite:  ''No 
daria  .  .  .  solo  un  cornado";  "Callar  que 
callaras";  "Tener  al  pie  del  palo";  'Tor 
el  passo  en  que  me  ves";  "Ya  cay  go  en 
ello";  "Vete  tu  jomada";  ''Entre  dientes 
murmurando";  "acrecentar  .  .  .  un  dedo"; 
'Tor  tu  vida" ;  "Una  gran  piega"  (of  time) ; 
"Boca  arriba".  These  are  expressions 
which  savor  more  of  the  pasos  of  Lope  de 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  355 


Rueda  than  of  the  courtier  of  Charles  V. 
And  elsewhere  in  his  works,  we  find  vigor- 
ous phrases  taken  from  the  lips  of  the 
people:  "Pues  soy  por  los  cabellos  arras- 
trado";  "Salio  al  camino";  "Da  consigo 
en  el  suelo";  "Cargo  la  mano  tanto";  "No 
es  mucho  que  .  .  .  ";    "Se  fue  su  passo." 

The  second  Eclogue  also  contains  several 
reminiscences  of  popular  refranes.  "De 
bien  acuchillado  a  ser  maestro"  recalls 
"No  hay  mejor  cirujano  que  el  bien  acu- 
chillado"; "Quan  facilmente  ...  el  sano 
da  consejos  al  doliente",  "El  sano  al  do- 
liente  so  regla  lo  mete."  So  too  such  a 
phrase  as,  "Assi  de  un  mal  ageno,  bien  se 
empiega"  has  in  it  an  echo  of  the  proverb 
"No  hay  mal  sin  bien,  cata  para  quien" 
and  "De  un  dolor  otro  se  empie^a"  is 
another  was  of  saying,  "Bien  vengas  mal, 
si  vienes  solo."  Other  lines  as  well  have 
a  sententious  character,  for  example.  "El 
mal  comunicando,  se  mejora"  or  "A  quien 
no  espera  bien,  no  ay  mal  que  dane." 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


356 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

C.      GRAMMAR 

The    grammar    of    Garcilaso,    like    his 
orthography  and  his  vocabulary,  offers  few 
peculiarities  and  such  as  occur  are  for  the 
most    part    common    to    the    speech    and 
literature  of  his  time. 

NOUNS.     Color,  with  one  exception,  is 
feminine,    following    the    earlier    Spanish 
usage  for  abstract  nouns  in  -or.     Calor, 
though  regularly  masculine,  like  the  other 
nouns  in  -or  {rigor,  dolor,  etc.),  is  found 
once  as  a  feminine. 

PRONOUNS.    In  general  our  text  pre- 
sents le  as  the  direct  object  masculine  of 
the  third  person,  but  there  is  one  instance  of 
lo  in  rhyme  (escogiolo,  Egl.  Ill,  358).    The 
various  editors  have  printed  these  forms 
according  to  their  individual   preference. 
In  general  the  editions  of  Antwerp,  1556 
(D)  and  of  Herrera  (H)  are  the  only  ones 
which  are  consistently  loistas. 

The  use  of  the  article  for  the  possessive 
in  the  line 

Hasta  moriros  a  los  pies  tendido, 

(Cane.  I,  13) 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

357 

is  perhaps  strained,  but  does  not  seem  to 
call  for  the  usual  emendation. 

There  are  two  cases  of  the  Old  Spanish 
form  of  the  possessive  adjective,  "la  mi 
muerte"  (Egl.  II,  529)  and  "la  su  hermosa 
carne"  (Egl.  Ill,  136).  The  first  is  per- 
haps, as  we  have  remarked,  an  imitation 
of  the  Italian  from  which  it  is  translated; 
the  second  is  a  doubtful  passage. 

The  interrogative  "icuyo?"  is  in  one  case 
used  as  an  adjective,  "<ien  cuya  oreja" 
(Egl.  I,  127),  a  use  sanctioned  in  Old 
Spanish  but  no  longer  practised. 

The  pronoun  ciial  is  twice  used  adverb- 
ially for  como,  once  in  an  exclamation, 
"iQual  me  tienes  la  mano!"  (Egl.  II,  848), 
once  as  correlative  to  tan, 

Con  un  tan  eficaz  remcdio  cura, 
qual  se  conviene  a  tristes  amadores. 
(Egl.  II,  1090-91) 

No  nada  occurs  once,  revealing  the 
original  affirmative  force  of  natam. 

The  relative  quien  is  used  for  things  as 
wqjl  as  persons,  and  even  as  a  plural. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

358 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

ARTICLES.  The  form  el  (originally 
ela)  is  used  before  feminine  nouns  beginning 
with  a,  even  when  the  a  is  unstressed:  el 
arena,  el  amistad,  etc.  There  is  one  in- 
stance of  el  before  a  noun  beginning  with 
e:   el  esperanqa  (Cane.  IV,  90). 

Similarly  we  find  the  form  un  before 
agna,  alma  and  ora.  This  is  evidently  a 
case  of  elision. 

ADJECTIVES.  The  use  of  adjectives 
for  adverbs  is  fairly  common,  so  fuerte, 
cierto,  claro,  pura  y  amorosa  (Egl.  Ill,  309), 
etc. 

ADVERBS.  A  aquellas  or  as  {entonces) 
and  a  la  ora  {en  seguida)  Rre  forms  of  earlier 
Spanish.  Primer 0  que  occurs  for  antes  que; 
possibly  this  is  due  to  Italian  influence. 

VERBS.  The  verb  forms  offer  more 
peculiarities  than  the  other  parts  of  speech, 
the  number  of  old  forms  being  not  incon- 
siderable. 

In  the  inflectional  endings  there  are 
some  survivals  of  the  earlier  usages  in  the 
second  person  plural;  showing  the  reten- 
tion of  the  d,  as  aviades  (Son.  X,   7)  or 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS  359 


fuessedes  (Cane.  I,  9);  the  syncopation  of 
the  penult  vowel,  in  pudierdes  (Ep.,  82); 
and  the  forms  without  the  insertion  of  the 
analogical  i,  as  llevastes,  etc.  (Son.  X,  9). 
The  forms  dexaresme  and  ^nataresme  (Egl. 
II,  1015-16)  may  be  derived  directly  from 
the  termination  -etis  {> edes> ees> es)  or 
be  due  to  analogy  with  the  syncopated 
future  subjunctive  or  with  the  older 
preterite  forms. ^ 

Present  Indicative.  Old  forms  are  esto  (4 
examples),  conosco  (Egl.  II,  99,  319),  vee 
(4  examples),  afierra  (Egl.  II,  loio)  and 
atierra  (in  the  figurative  sense,  Egl.  'II, 
1070).  Atierra  is  also  found  in  the  literal 
sense  (Egl.  Ill,  ^2)^)- 

Present  Subjunctive.  The  forms  ado- 
lesca  and  condolesca  occur  in  the  rhyme 
(Egl.  II,  353-54),  but  the  forms  in  -zca 
are  the  regular  use.  In  Egl.  II,  917  there 
is  an  example  of  the  older  subjunctive  of 
valer  in  "Valasme,  Dios;"  elsewhere  valga 
is  used. 

Present  Imperative.  The  old  plural 
form,  without  the  final  d,  is  found  not  only 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


360 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

before  os,  as  Quedaos  (Egl.  II,  635),  but 
also  in  several  verbs  of  the  first  conjuga- 
tion in  other  situations,  for  example :  llevd, 
mird,  solid,  torndme,  ahraqd,  and  essecutd. 
Juan  de  Valdes  condemns  these  forms. 

There  is  an  example  of  metathesis  in 
dezildo  (Egl.  I,  236). 

Future  Indicative.  The  older  forms, 
showing  metathesis,  such  as  terne,  pome, 
venie,  and  averne  are  regularly  used,  al- 
though tendrd  occurs  (Cane.  II,  32;  Son. 
XI,  11).  The  separation  of  the  auxiliary 
from  the  infinitive  is  illustrated  in  dexarte 
he  (Egl.  II,  1765).  Possibly  contarte  (Egl. 
II,  1039)  stands  for  contarte  he. 

Preterite  Indicative.  Vido  (6  examples) 
occurs  beside  vio.  The  preterite  of  traer 
is  regularly  truxe.  In  several  preterites  we 
find  a  form  without  palatalization  of  the 
stem  vowel,  as  arrepentio  or  convertieron. 
Condiixieron  shows  the  older  form  with 
the  palatal  still  unabsorbed  by  the  x. 

Past  Subjunctives.  Analogous  to  triixe 
is  truxiesse.  Ovieron  shows  the  original 
vowel,    before   the    palatal    influence   has 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

361 

exerted  its  effect.  Dixiera,  dixiesse  and 
conduxiesse  are  like  conduxieron. 

Present  Participle.  There  is  hesitation 
between  dormiendo  and  the  modern  form 
durm'endo.  Reyendo  is  the  normal  form 
before  the  raising  of  the  initial  e  to  i. 

Present  Infinitive.  The  final  r  of  the 
infinitive  is  regularly  assimilated  to  a  fol- 
lowing /,  which  in  turn  gives  palatal  //: 
vellas,  dezillo,  etc.  There  are,  however,  a 
few  examples  of  rl:  cer carlo  (Egl.  Ill,  205), 
mirarla  (Egl.  Ill,  142). 

SYNTAX.  The  syntax  of  Garcilaso 
calls  for  little  comment.  His  usage  of  the 
subjunctive,  both  in  principal  and  second- 
ary clauses,  is  eminently  modern.  There 
are  two  examples  of  the  absolute  construc- 
tion imitated  from  the  so-called  "Greek  ac- 
cusative" in  Latin:  "El  fiero  cuello  atados" 
(Cane.  V,  19),  and  "Las  venas  dulcemente 
desatado"  (El.  II,  144).  It  is  found  with 
increasing  frequency  in  the  poets  of  the 
Golden  Age,  particularly  in  Gongora. 
Another  Latinizing  expression  is  "luziente 
de  cristal  coluna"  (El.  I,  73)  following  the 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

362 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

classic  order  of  "adjective,  genitive,  noun." 
Somewhat  similar  is  the  phrase,  ''el  vano 
y  sin  provecho  sentimiento."     There  are 
two  examples  of  the  conjugation  of  a  verb 
of  motion  with  the  auxiliary  ser:   "Con  el 
en  una  huerta  entrada  siendo,"  (Egl.  II, 
1369)    and    "fue    venido."      The    use    is 
probably    an    imitation    of    the    Italian, 
though  found  in  old  Spanish. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

363 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  FORTUNA  OF  GARCILASO 

I.      EARLY    MENTIONS 

Among  his  contemporaries  Garcilaso  was 
held  in  esteem  by  a  limited  circle  of  men 
of  letters,  of  whom  we  have  had  occasion 
to  speak  in  tracing  his  life.  Boscan  and 
Sa  de  Miranda  in  the  Peninsula,  and  in 
Italy,  Bembo,  Tansillo  and  Scipione  Ca- 
pece  bore  testimony  to  the  regard  in  which 
they  held  him  as  a  gentleman  and  as  a  poet ; 
and  we  have  seen  evidences  of  his  intimate 
relations  with  other  poets  and  scholars  of 
the  day.  Upon  Boscan  and  Sa  de  Mi- 
randa in  particular  he  exercised  a  notable 
influence. 

From  the  first  he  was  ihe  comrade  of 
the  former.  The  value  of  his  advice  and 
example  bore  no  small  part  in  encouraging 
him  in  his  effort  to  write  in  the  new  rhythms 
and  in  some  of  these  combinations,  such 

AND    MONOGRAPHS     , 

364 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

as  the  octave,  blank  verse,  the  inner  rhyme, 
and  the  lira,  it  was  he  who  led  the  way 
and   offered   the   models   for   his   friend's 
guidance. 

Sa  de  Miranda  has  left  clear  proof  of  the 
influence    which    Garcilaso    exerted    upon 
him.    In  a  passage  in  the  dedication  of  his 
eclogue    Nemoroso,    written    on   the    first 
anniversary  of  Garcilaso's  death,  he  declares, 

Enviasteme  el  buen  Laso, 

ire  paseando  asi  mi  paso  a  paso. 

Al  qual  gran  don  io  quanto 
devo  sabreis;    que  ardia 
temiendo  i  deseando  juntamente, 
(Eg).  V,  64-68) 

and  elsewhere  he  shows  that  for  him,  at 
least,  Garcilaso  was  the  real  initiator  of 
the  new  school. 

Que  tu  fuiste  el  primero 

que  enchiste  el  bosque  del  son  estranjero. 
(id.,  503-4) 
Even  before  the   death   of  the   Castilian 
poet,  he  seems  to  have  known  his  work, 
for  there  is  a  line   in  his  eclogue    Celia 
(1535), 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

365 

Corren  lagrimas  jiistas  sin  parar, 

(Egl.  Ill,  55) 

which  appears  to  be  an  echo  to  the  refrain 
in  the  song  of  Salicio, 

Salid  sin  duelo,  lagrimas,  corriendo. 
(Egl.  I,  70)1 
Perhaps  it  is  to  this  answer  that  Garcilaso 
is  referring  in  the  third  Eclogue  when  he 
says, 

.    .    .   y  lleva  presuroso 
al  mar  de  Lusitania  el  nombre  mio, 
donde  estara  escuchado,  yo  lo  fio. 

(Egl.  Ill,  24&-48) 

In  form  as  well  Sa  de  Miranda  shows 
his   indebtedness   to   Garcilaso.     The   ec- 
logue   Nemoroso   is    polymetric,    like   the 
second  Eclogue,  and  the  various  metrical 
combinations  are  precisely  those  used  by 
the    Spanish   poet:     canzone   stanzas    (the 
form  is  that  used  by  Garcilaso,  lines  38-76), 
tercets  and  inner  rhymes.     It  should  be 
noted,  however,  that  the  latter  belong  to 
the   type   with   the   inner   rhyme   on   the 
fourth  syllable,  following  the  type  used  by 
Sannazaro    in    his    second    egloga,    rather 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

366 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

than  that  of  Garcilaso,  with  the  rhyme  on 
the  sixth  syllable.  The  eighth  eclogue,  in 
Portuguese,  and  the  ninth,  in  Castilian,  are 
also  polymetric,  illustrating  a  variety  of 
metres,  including  the  octave  and  the  inner 
rhyme  with  the  rhyme  on  the  sixth  syllable. 

The  genius  of  Sa  de  Miranda  was  akin 
to  that  of  Garcilaso;  not  in  vain  did  the 
Portuguese  poet  recall  their  common 
ancestry.  Like  his  Castilian  contemporary 
he  early  came  under  the  influence  of  the 
Italian  poets;  his  first  attempts  in  their 
measures  are  almost  exactly  contemporary 
with  the  early  experiments  of  Boscan  and 
Garcilaso.  His  best  work  shows  the  same 
qualities  of  delicate  finish  and  keen  ear  for 
melodic  beauty.  And  it  is  particularly  sig- 
nificant of  his  esteem  for  Garcilaso  that 
he,  an  ardent  worshipper  of  his  Italian 
models,  should  have  placed  the  Spanish 
poet  among  his  masters,  acknowledging 
him  to  be  the  equal  of  Petrarch  or  his  fol- 
lowers. 

The  years  which  immediately  followed 
Garcilaso 's   death   have   left   no   evidence 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS         367 


that   his  memory   was   widely   cherished. 
Save  in  the  official  documents  which  be- 
speak  the   Emperor's   continued   concern 
for  his  family,  he  is  wellnigh  forgotten. 
Boscan,  it  is  true,  commemorated  his  loss 
in  two  deeply  felt   sonnets,   which  rank 
among  his  best  works.     The  second  de- 
serves quoting  for  its  imaffected  sincerity, 
Garcilasso,  que  al  bien  siempre  aspiraste 
y  siempre  con  tal  fuerga  le  seguiste 
que  a  pocos  passos  que  tras  el  corriste, 
en  todo  enteramente  le  alcangaste, 

dime  ^por  que  tras  ti  no  me  llevaste, 
quando  desta  mortal  tierra  partiste  ? 
^por  que  al  subir  a  lo  alto  que  subiste 
aca  en  esta  baxeza  me  dexaste  ? 

Bien  pienso  yo  que  si  poder  tuvieras 
de  mudar  algo  lo  que  esta  ordenado, 
en  tal  caso  de  mi  no  te  olvidaras; 

que,  o  quisieras  honrrarme  con  tu  lado, 
o  a  lo  menos  de  mi  te  despidieras, 
o,  si  esto  no,  despues  por  mi  tornaras. 

(Son.  XCII) 
And  again,  in  the  Octava  rima,  he  refers  to 
him   affectionately  as  a  noble  gentleman 
and  as  a  poet  in  Latin  and  Castilian, 


AND    MONOGRAPHS     | 


368 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Esta  virtud  le  dio  con  larga  mano, 
el  bien  que  casi  a  todo  el  mundo  niega, 
con  su  verso  Latino  y  Castellano, 
que  desde  el  Helicon  mil  campos  riega, 
iO  dichoso  amador!    jDichoso  amado! 
que  del  amor  acrecento  el  estado.  (p.  446) 

Another   poet,    Gutierre   de    Cetina,    also 
mentions   him   in    a   letter   to    Diego   de 
Mendoza.i     But  the  impression  which  he 
left  upon  his  generation  was  slight;    had 
his   works    perished,    his   memory    would 
have  quickly  vanished. 

The  publication  of  his  poems,  along  with 
those  of  Boscan,  in  1543  soon  bore  fruit. 
Their  wide  popularity  among  the  reading 
public  is  revealed  by  the  fact  that  within 
ten  years  there  were  no  less  than  twelve 
editions,  including  those  printed  in  Italy, 
Flanders,  France  and  Portugal.    As  early 
as  15-46  we  find  a  critical  opinion  of  the 
value  of  the  poetry  of  Boscan  and  Gar- 
cilaso  in  the  Discurso  sohre  la  lengua  caste- 
liana  of  Ambrosio  de  Morales,  printed  with 
the  Ohras  of  Francisco  Cervantes  de  Sala- 
zar.^       Recognizing     the     importance     of 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

369 

Boscan's    service    as    a    pioneer,    Morales 
observes  that  his  imitation  of  the  Italians 
would  have  had  little  effect  without  the 
greater  talents  of  Garcilaso,  whose  work 
he  does  not  hesitate  to  compare  with  that 
of  the  Latin  as  well  as  the  Tuscan  poets. 
Three  years  later  (1549),  in  a  passage 
interpolated    in    his    translation    of    the 
Orlando  furioso,  Geronimo  de  Urrea  shows 
an  acquaintance  with  Garcilaso's  tribute 
to  Dona  Maria  Enriquez,  the  Duchess  of 
Alba,  in  the  second  Eclogue,  and  at  the 
same  time  pays  a  conventional  tribute  to 
our  poet, 

Renaldo  dixo:   ^quien  avra  en  el  suelo 
que  tal  empresa  tome  y  osadia  ? 
—  Sera  este  Gareilasso,  a  quien  el  cielo 
hara  inmortal,  el  marmol  respondia.^ 

Of  a  different  sort  is  the  comment  of 
Alfonso  Garcia  Matamoros  in  his  De  adse- 
renda  Hispaniorum  eruditione  (1553);    ad- 
mitting the  excellencies  of  the  poets  of  the 
new  school  and  their  fitness  for  comparison 
with  their  ItaHan  masters,  he  shows  clearly 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

370 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

his  personal  leaning  to  the  older  Castilian.i 
The  significant  point  in  his  criticism  is  the 
recognition  of  the  existence  of  this  new 
school. 

2.    THE  ITALIAN  SCHOOL  OF  POETS. 

The  first  work  published  in  Spain  after 
the  appearance  of  the  Obras  of  Boscan  and 
Garcilaso,  to  contain  hendacasyllables  was 
the   translation   of  the  Arcadia  of  Sanna- 
zaro,   printed   at   Toledo   in    1547-"     The 
verse    eglogas,    translated    by    Diego    de 
Salazar,  are  in  decimas,  but  a  portion  of 
Egloga  X,  is  done  in  the  original  measure, 
—  hendecasyllables  with  inner  rhymes  on 
the  sixth  syllable,  —  and  the  concatena- 
tion  of   its   opening   and   closing   rhymes 
with  those  of  the  decimas  which  precede 
and  follow  is  also  taken  from  Sannazaro. 
Although  it  is  probable  that  the  use  of  this 
unusual  form  is  derived  directly  from  the 
original,  it  is  not  impossible  that  Salazar 
was  familiar  with  Garcilaso 's  experiment 
in  the  same  fonn. 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES , 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


371 


The  earliest  example  of  a  sonnet  is  one 
by  Juan  Hurtado  de  IMendoza  in  Diego 
Gracian's  translation  of  the  Morales  of 
Plutarch  (Alcala,  1548).^  The  same  edi- 
tion also  contains  an  anonymous  sonnet, 
translating  a  Greek  epigram,  and  a  "tercia 
rima"  by  Luis  Hurtado,  written  in  per- 
fectly regular  tercets.  The  following  year 
saw  the  pubHcation  of  Urrea's  translation 
of  the  Orlando  furioso  in  octaves,  with  an 
introductory  sonnet  by  Juan  Aguilon."^ 

From  1550  on,  the  nimiber  of  works 
written  wholly  in  the  Italian  measures  or 
containing  introductory  verses  in  the  new 
style,  is  so  large  that  it  is  necessary  to  men- 
tion only  a  few.  Thus  in  1550  there  ap- 
peared Gonzalo  Perez's  translation  of  the 
Odyssey  in  strongly  iambic  versos  siieltos,^ 
and  also  a  new  translation  of  the  Orlando 
furioso  in  octaves  by  Hernando  de  Alcocer.'' 
Of  particular  interest  is  the  Buen  plazer 
trohado  en  treze  discantes  de  quarta  rima 
castellana,  segun  imitacion  de  trohas  france- 
sas  (1550)  of  Juan  Hurtado  de  Mendoza.^ 
All  of  the  verses  in  the  work  are  either 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


372 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

hendecasyllables    or    septenaries    of    the 
Italian  type,  and  there  are  a  number  of 
sonnets  included.     But  most  of  the  work 
is  written,  as  the  title  suggests,  in  quatrains, 
rhyming:  ABAB:   BCBC:  etc.^    The  pro- 
logue shows  another  experiment  which  the 
author  calls  ''rima  doble  castellana  segun 
imitacion  de  troba  francesa",  and  which 
in  reality  is  merely  a  series  of  hendeca- 
syllables rhymed  in   couplets,   a   favorite 
form  of  Clement  Marot.     Juan  Hurt  ado 
de  Mendoza's  efforts  to  introduce  French 
forms  for  his  Italian  rhythms  was  wholly 
unfruitful,  but  it  stands  as  an  interesting 
landmark  of  the  struggle  between  the  new 
school  and  the  old.     The  traditional  pres- 
tige of  the  Castilian  measure  was  gone;  the 
triumph  of  the  new  school  was  not  yet 
complete.     And  one  venturesome  spirit  at 
least  essayed  to  wander  in  new  and  un- 
trodden paths. 

Passing    over    a    sonnet    found    in    the 
Villancicos    y    canciones    (1551)    of    Juan 
Vazquez,2  and  the  Cristopathia  in  octaves 
by    Juan   de   Quiros,   which   appeared   in 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

373 

1552,1  we  find  in  1554  a  number  of  works 
in  the  new  forms,  such  as  Hozes'  transla- 
tion of  the  Trionfi  of  Petrarch  in  tercets, - 
Alonso  de  Lobera's  version  of  the  Rissa  y 
planto  de  Democrates  y    Heraclito  of  File- 
remo  Fregoso,  also  in  tercets,  ^  numerous 
poems  in  the  Italian  measures  in  the  Ohras 
of  Jorge  de  Montemayor,^  and  finally  the 
important     Cancionero    genera!    de    ohras 
nuevas    nunca   hasta    aora    impressas,    assi 
por  ellarte  espanola  como  por  la  toscana.^ 

Hernando  de   Hozes,  the  translater  of 
Petrarch,  brings  us  further  proof  of  the 
rapidity   with   which   the   new   style   had 
gained  ground,  for  he  tells  us  that  "since 
Garcilaso  de   la  Vega   and    Juan   Boscan 
brought  to   our  tongue   the  measures  of 
Tuscan  verse,  everything  written  or  trans- 
lated in  any  of  the  verses  formerly  used  in 
Spain  has  so  far  lost  credit  that  no  one 
will  tolerate  them,  although  some  of  them 
are  of   great  value,  as  everyone  knows. "« 
Elsewhere  Hozes  mentions  others  who  are 
cultivating  the  Italian  style :    Diego  Hur- 
tado   de   Mendoza,    Gonzalo   Perez,   and 

AND    MONOGRAPHS     | 

374 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Juan  de  Coloma.     Garcia  Matamoros,  in 
the  passage  already  mentioned  had  also 
mentioned  Gonzalo  Perez  and  in  addition, 
Juan  Hurtado  de  Mendoza.^ 

From  other  sources  we  can  add  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  names  at  least  of  other 
members   of   the   new   school.      Urrea   as 
early  as  1549  had  referred  in  his  Orlando 
furioso  to  Juan  de  Heredia,  Luis  Zapata, 
Garcilaso  the  Younger,  Gualvez,  Morrano, 
Pero  Mexia,  Vandalio  (Gutierre  de  Cetina), 
Haro,  and  Gonzalo  Perez. ^    Similarly  Gre- 
gorio  Henriquez  de  Velasco,  in  the  Par  ergon 
introduced  in  Libro  III  of  his  translation 
of  Sannazaro's   De  partu  Virginis  (1554),^ 
lauds,  the  poets  of  his  time.     The  first  of 
his  group  is  Garcilaso  the  Younger, 
un  Garci-Laso,  hi  jo  digno  veo 
de  Garci-Laso,  espiritu  divine, 
and  he  also  mentions   Juan  Hurtado  de 
Mendoza,   Diego  de  Mendoza,    Juan  Co- 
loma, Urrea,  and  Acuna.     Other  poets  to 
whom  he  refers,   such  as   Bernardino  de 
Ayala,   Antonio  de   Heredia,   Antonio  de 
Soria,  Caravajal,  and  Oliver,  are  less  known. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


375 


Finally  Luis  Zapata  in  Canto  XXXVIII 
of  his  Carlo  famoso,  mentions  Diego  de 
Mendoza,  Juan  Hurtado  de  Mendoza, 
Geronimo  de  Urrea,  Gonzalo  Perez,  Fer- 
nando de  Acuna.  Juan  Coloma,  and  Monte- 
mayor  of  the  better  known  writers  and  also 
Francisco  de  Guzman,  Juan  de  Borja,  Juan 
Fernandez  de  Heredia,  Antonio  de  Soria, 
Geronimo  Samper,  Pedro  de  Guzman,  and 
Bernardino  de  Ayala.^  | 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  work  of 
Urrea,  Gonzalo  Perez,  father  of  the  great 
secretary,  and  Juan  Hurtado  de  IMendoza. 
We  shall  find  examples  of  the  verse  of 
some  of  the  others  in  the  Cancionero 
general  de  1554.  This  collection  of  poems 
of  the  reign  of  Charles  V  is  singularly  in- 
teresting, as  Wolf  observed,  2  in  its  revela- 
tion of  the  conflict  of  the  new  and  old 
schools.  The  first  ninety  poems  belong  to 
the  old  Castihan  style ;  there  follow  eighty- 
three  works  in  the  new  measures:  "Si- 
guense  las  obras  que  van  por  el  arte  tos- 
cana,  compuestas  por  diversos  autores, 
nimca  hasta   aora  impressas."     Although 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


376 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the  names  of  only  two  of  the  authors,  Juan 
de   Coloma  and   Diego  de   Mendoza,   are 
mentioned,  there  are  included  some  forty- 
six  sonnets  by  "different  authors".     One 
of  these   (No.   CXXXII)  is  the  work  of 
Gutierre  de  Cetina;^  of  the  rest,  a  number 
are  translations  of  Petrarch   and   Sanna- 
zaro,  and   in  general,  the  style  and  form 
of  all  are  frankly  Petrarchan. 

The  principal  place  among  the  works  of 
the  Italian  school  is  held  by  the  poems  of 
Juan  de  Coloma,-  who  is  represented  by 
nineteen  compositions :  three  canciones,  the 
Historia  de  Orfeo  en  octava  rigma,  an  ec- 
logue, a  capUulo,  and  twenty -two  sonnets. 
Here  the  influence  of  Garcilaso  is  at  once 
manifest.      Aside    from   the    Historia    de 
Orfeo,  which  owes  its  inspiration  undoubt- 
edly to  the  Octava  rima  of  Boscan,  and  the 
term  "capitulo"  for  the  type  of  composi- 
tion which  Garcilaso  has  styled  an  "elegia," 
all  the  compositions  follow  the  models  set 
by  Garcilaso.    Of  the  three  canciones,  Nos. 
I  and  III  are  in  the  stanza  used  in  Gar- 
cilaso's  Cancion  III;    No.  II  is  in  that  of 

HISPANIC    NOTES. 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

377 

Garcilaso's  Cancion  I,  and  the  sonnets  fol- 
low the  same  types.     The  Eclogue  shows 
even  more  definitely  Coloma's  indebtedness 
to  Garcilaso,  following  the  polymetric  form 
of  Ec'ogue  II  in  great  detail.    All  the  met- 
rical forms  used  by  our  poet  are  employed: 
tercets,  canzone  stanzas  (the  form  is  pre- 
cisely that  of  lines  38-76)  and  inner  rhymes 
on  the  sixth  syllable. ^ .  There  is  also  a  brief 
passage  in  versos  siieltos.    The  fiction  of  the 
eclogue  as  well  follows  the  same  eclogue  of 
Garcilaso  and  there  are  frequent  remin- 
iscences of  phrase  or  thought.      Juan  de 
Coloma's   verse   gives   little  sign  of  origi- 
nality and  his  hendecasyllables  are  usually 
as  stiff  and  stilted  as  those  of  Boscan.    But 
once  more,  as  an  innovator,  he  deserves  a 
place  in  the  company  of  those  who  shared 
in  the  establishment  of  modern   Spanish 
verse. 

Diego  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  who  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Cancionero  general  de  ijj4  by 
eight  compositions  in  the  arte  toscana  and 
a   CastiHan   copla,   is   unquestionably  the 
most    influential    convert    to    the    Italian 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

378 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

school.     The  distinction  of  his  family  and 
his  personal  reputation  as  a  scholar  and 
diplomat,  as  well  as  his  undoubted  gift  in 
the  older  forms,  gave  him  a  prestige  which 
cannot  have  failed  to  give  his  accession  to 
the  side  of  the  innovators  great  weight  in 
his  generation.     Although  it  is  impossible 
to  fix  a  date,  it  is  probable  that  his  earliest 
experiments  are  almost  contemporary  with 
those  of  Boscan  and  Garcilaso.     Certainly 
before  the  former's  death  in  1542  he  had 
acquired  a  real  mastery  of  the  new  rhythm, 
as  shown  in  his  Epistola  addressed  to  him. 
This  poem  had  already  been  printed  with 
the  works  of  Boscan;   with  the  few  verses 
contained  in  the  present  Cancionero  and  a 
stray  dedicatory  sonnet,  it  remained  the 
only  poetic  work  of  Mendoza  known  until 
the  appearance  of  his  Ohras  in  i6io.\ 

The  poems  in  the  Cancionero  are:    two 
canciones,  (Nos.  II-III  of  Knapp's  edition), 
an  elegy  (No.  I),  a  copla,  an  eclogue  (No. 
I),  and  four  sonnets   (Nos.  II,  III  and  XI 
and  a  version  of  Garcilaso's  Son.  XXVII). 
The  two  canciones  are  in  stanzas  already 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

379 

used  by  Garcilaso  (Cane.  II  and  Egl.  II). 
The  eclogue  is  polymetric,  in  tercets  and 
canzone  stanzas.     The  stanza  form  is  an 
unusual    one:     ABCD:ABCD  idEeFF, 
which  is  not  found  in  Petrarch  nor  his  imi- 
tators and  there  is  included  a  sort  of  envoy 
in  two  stanzas  (one  translating  the  com- 
parison of  Ausias  March  between  Love  and 
the  tight  garment),  in  a  different  form: 
aBbCcC.    The  device  on  which  the  eclogue 
is  based  is  the  stock  Virgilian  scheme,  used 
by  Garcilaso  in  both  the  first  and  third 
Eclogues:    the  poet  introduces  two  shep- 
herds who  chant  in  turn  their  songs,  in 
this  case  their  laments. 

As  M.  jMorel-Fatio  has  pointed  out,i  the 
Elegy  is  written  in  a  curious  form:    after 
two  introductory  tercets:  ABC:  ABC,  the 
rest  of  the  poem  is  in  seven  line  stanzas. 
But  he  did  not  add  that  these  stanzas  are 
botind  together  by  the  rhymes :  CDEFFED : 
DGHIIHG,  etc.     It  is  interesting  to  find 
once  more  evidence  of  an  attempt  to  create 
new  forms.    The  essays  of  Diego  de  Men- 
doza  had  no  greater  success  than  those  of 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

380 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Juan  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  but  they  save 
the  school  from  the  charge  of  absolute  ste- 
rility in  invention. 

Certain  other  poets  whose  names  we 
have  mentioned  as  among  the  early  adher- 
ents of  the  Italian  school  deserve  a  further 
word.  Chief  among  these  are  Fernando  de 
Acuiia  and  Gutierre  de  Cetina.  Acufia's 
first  verses  were  written  in  Italy  in  the 
years  immediately  following  Garcilaso's 
death  and  most  of  his  works  are  in  the 
Italian  style.  To  him  we  owe  the  first 
imitation  of  the  lira,  a  parody  addressed 
to  Geronimo  de  Urrea,  "buen  cabal  lero  y 
mal  poeta,"  whose  translation  of  Le  cheva- 
lier delibere  was  a  rival  of  his  own.  He 
also  uses  the  same  form  in  a  pastoral 
song,  ''Damon,  ausente  de  Galatea."  The 
celebrity  of  this  parody  may  have  had 
some  part  in  popularizing  the  form.^ 

Gutierre  de  Cetina  is  jestingly  referred 
to  by  Diego  de  Mendoza  in  his  Epistola  to 
Boscan;  his  own  Epistola  to  Mendoza  was 
written  in  1543.^  One  of  his  sonnets  (No. 
CXCIII)    was    printed    in    the    Ohras    of 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

381 

Montemayor  (1554);  another  (CCXXXII) 
was  included  in  the  Cancionero  general  de 
1554;  a  few  of  his  poems  were  included  in 
Herrera 's  notes  to  Garcilaso .    But  his  works 
as   a   whole   remained   unpublished    until 
recently.    Although  there  is  no  evidence  of 
any  direct  influence  from  Garcilaso  in  his 
works,  he  had  a  large  part  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  Italian  forms  and  in  some  re- 
spects is  the  most  Petrarchan  of  the  group. 
His   daintiness   and   his   subtlety  have   a 
fragile  charm.     To  him  moreover  we  owe 
the  introduction  into  Castilian  of  two  ad- 
ditional forms:  the  madrigal,  so  admirably 
employed  in  his    "Ojos   claros,   serenos," 
and  the  sextina,  also  used  by  Fernando  de 
Acuna  but  never  successfully  grafted  in 
Spain.i 

The  last  of  the  poets  in  the  new  school 
who  shows  the  influence  of  Garcilaso  is 
Agustin  Guedeja  y  Quiroga.    The  only  one 
of  his  works  to  survive,  an  eclogue  printed 
as  a  cancion  among  the  works  of  Diego  de 
Mendoza,2  is  closely  modeled  upon  Gar- 
cilaso's  first  Eclogue,  using  the  same  Pe- 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

382 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

trarchan   stanza,   imitating   much   of  the 
phraseology   and   ending   with   a   specific 
reference  to  our  poet,  for  after  the  shep- 
herd Dafni  has  stirred  to  compassion  the 
nymphs  of  the  Alabon  (probably  used  for 
the  Alagon,  a  stream  which  has  its  source 
in  the  Pena  de  Francia,  near  Salamanca), 
he  crosses  to  the  Tormes  and  there, 

Mas  alld  en  la  corriente 

de  Tormes  caudaloso, 

canto  con  Nemoroso, 

adonde  publico  mds  sus  dolores. 
The  sweep  of  the  new  movement  was 
rapid  in  Spain.     Twenty  years  after  Gar- 
cilaso's  death  his  verses  had  become  the 
model  for  poetic  composition.     With  the 
appearance  of  some  sonnets  in  Castilian  in 
the  1557  edition  of  Castillo's   Cancionero 
general,  which  had  represented  the  tradi- 
tional  Spanish  metres  for  almost  half  a 
century,   we  may  consider  the   "arte  to- 
scana"  as  definitely  estabHshed  in  Spain. 

3.     OPPONENTS    OF    THE    NEW    SCHOOL 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  popularity  of 
the  new  forms  had  not  been  wholly  with- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

383 

out  opposition  in  the  Peninsula.  One,  at 
least,  of  the  poets  of  the  time,  Cristobal  de 
Castillejo,  had  raised  his  voice  in  protest 
against  this  influx  of  foreign  influence.  His 
verses,  "Contra  los  que  dexan  los  metros 
castellanos  y  siguen  los  italianos,"i  are  a 
half -serious,  half -jesting  attack  on  the  new 
school,  in  particiilar  on  Boscan  and  Gar- 
cilaso,  although  he  names  Diego  de  Men- 
doza  and  Luis  de  Haro  as  additional  de- 
fendants. Castillejo  is  eminently  serious 
in  his  respect  for  the  older  writers  from 
Juan  de  Mena  to  Torres  Naharro.  His 
jesting  is  the  more  piquant  because  he 
clothes  his  attacks  in  the  very  forms  these 
foreign  innovators  use :  a  sonnet,  supposed 
to  be  by  Boscan,  an  octave  which  he  attrib- 
utes to  Garcilaso,  and  a  final  sonnet  for 
which  he  himself  assumes  responsibility. 
The  purpose  of  these  parodies  is  clear. 
Castillejo  is  anxious  to  show  that  anyone 
can  write  perfect  sonnets,  —  if  he  cares 
to; 

Facilmente  los  hiciera, 

pues  los  hice  en  la  romana, 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

384 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

says  Torres  Naharro,  when  consulted.  And 
the  tolerance  with  which  he  views  the  new 
movement  is  shown  in  the  decision  of  his 
bards;  they  grant  their  praises  to  the  new 
singers  because  of  their  courtly  polish  and 
their  contributions  to  letters  through  their 
works  in  the  new  style. 

These  coplas  of  Castillejo  were  certainly 
written  before   1549,   for  Urrea  refers  to 
them  distinctly  in  his  translation  of  the 
Orlando  furioso, 

Y  con  el,  Castillejo,  amigo  caro, 
que  tanto  en  fama  y  obras  resplandece, 
a  ver  viene,  muy  lleno  de  alegria, 
esto  que  nombra  secta  0  heregia, 

having   in   mind    the    opening   stanza    of 
Castillejo, 

Pues  la  Santa  Inquisicion 
suele  ser  tan  diligente 
en  castigar  con  razon 
qualquier  secta  y  opinion, 
levantada  nuevamente, 
resucite  su  lucero 
a  castigar  en  Espana 
una  muy  nueva  y  extrana, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

385 

como  aquella  de  Lutero 
en  las  partes  de  Alemana. 

These  burlesque  verses  of  Castillejo  are  his 
only  compositions  in  the  Italian  measures. 
He  died  in  1550  before  the  triumph  of  the 
new  school  was  complete. 

Another  opponent  of  the  new  style  was 
Gregorio  Silvestre,  who  attacks  it  sharply 
for  its  emptiness  and  its  obscurity  in  his 
Audiencia  de  Amor] 

Dijo  Amor:    iDonde  se  aprende 

este  metro  tan  prolixo 

que  las  orejas  ofende  ? 

For  estas  coplas  se  dixo 

algarabia  de  allende. 

El  sugeto  frio  y  duro, 

y  el  estilo  tan  oscuro 

que  la  dama  en  quien  se  emulea 

duda,  por  sabia  que  sea, 

si  es  requiebro  0  si  es  conjuro. 

Ved  si  la  invencion  es  basta, 

pues  Garcilaso  y  Boscan, 

las  plumas  puestas  per  asta, 

cada  imo  es  un  Rcldan; 

y  con  todo  no  le  basta.^ 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

386 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

But  Silvestre  was  ultimately  converted  to 
the  new  doctrine;  most  of  his  verses,  pub- 
lished in  1582,  are  in  hendecasyllables,  and 
he  is  even  said  by  his  editor,  Pedro  de 
Caceres  y  Espinosa,  to  have  been  the  first 
to  give  them  their  proper  rhythm!^     This 
tendency  to  write  in  both  styles,  which  we 
find  in  Boscan,   Diego  de  Mendoza,  and 
even  Garcilaso,  became  a  characteristic  of 
the  poets  of  Spain.    Sebastian  de  Horozco 
of  Toledo  is  almost  the  only  poet  of  the 
last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  whose 
cancionero  is  wholly  in  the  Castilian  meas- 
ures. 

The  adoption  of  the  new  metres  was  not 
revolutionary;    they  did  not  replace,  but 
rather  supplemented  the  older  forms,  en- 
riching the  poetic  expression  of  Spain  with 
numerous  varied  forms.     It  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  the  process  was  so  quickly  carried 
out;  that  in  less  than  two  decades,  sonnets 
were  as  frequent  as  the  coplas  of  the  past. 
The  early  influence  of  Boscan  and  Gar- 
cilaso was  largely  formal,  but  they  did  open 
the  eyes  of  their  fellow-countrymen  to  the 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


387 


beauties  of  Petrarch  and  of  Sannazaro 
and  even  in  their  earliest  followers  there  is 
evident  an  effort  for  that  polish  and  ele- 
gance which  were  so  strikingly  exempHfied 
by  the  work  of  the  poet  of  Toledo. 

4.     THE  ANNOTATED  EDITIONS 

The  first  of  the  critics  of  the  new  school 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  clearly  celebrated 
the  superiority  of  Garcilaso's  art  over  that 
of  Boscan.  His  judgment  was  corroborated 
by  the  testimony  of  all  his  successors  and 
by  none  more  plainly  than  by  the  public, 
which  has  encouraged  the  publishers  to  re- 
print the  works  of  Garcilaso  in  edition 
after  edition,  while  the  verses  of  his  con- 
temporary have  fallen  into  complete  obliv- 
ion. Not  until  1569,  however,  did  an  edi- 
tion of  the  poems  of  Garcilaso  alone  appear. 
In  that  year  Simon  Borgofion,  a  publisher 
of  Salamanca,  issued  from  the  press  of 
Matias  Gast  a  slender  volume  containing 
the  verses  which  had  formed  till  then  the 
Fourth  Book  of  the  Obras  of  Boscan.  In  his 
dedication,  Borgonon  alleges  as  his  motive 


AND    MONOGRAPHS     ; 


388 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the  fact  that  many  people  were  separating 
the  works  of  Garcilaso  from  the  rest  of  the 
book  (the  pubHc,  it  seems,  was  already  dis- 
criminating), and  further  remarks  that  he 
had  secured  the  services  of  men  of  taste  to 
emend  the  text.     That  this  new  venture 
met  with  favor  is  clear  from  the  appearance 
in   the   following   year   of   a    reprint    by 
Alonso    Gomez   of    Madrid.      They   were 
tiny  books,  easily  lost  or  discarded.    Dili- 
gent search  has  failed  to  discover  more 
than  a  single  copy  of  each  of  them,  the 
former  in  the  Biblioteca  Nacional,  the  lat- 
ter in  the  Library  of  the  Hispanic  Society 
of  America. 

The  success  of  these  editions  soon  stimu- 
lated further  interest  in  Garcilaso.  Another 
printer  of  Salamanca,  Pedro  Lasso,  secured 
the  services  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
professors    in    the    University,    Francisco 
Sanchez  de  las  Brozas,  the  great  Humanist 
who  occupied  the  chair  of  rhetoric,  to  pre- 
pare an  improved  and  annotated  edition 
of  his  works.     In    November,    1573    the 
manuscript  was  ready  and  sent  to   Juan 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

389 

Vazquez    del    Marmol    for    examination. 
Printing  was  under  way  in  January,  1574 
and  the  License  was  granted  on  the  28th 
of  the  month.    But  the  printer  was  tempted 
by  a  cash  offer  to  produce  an  edition  of  the 
Horde  B.  Mariae  and  so  the  printing  of 
Garcilaso's  verse  was  postponed,  —  to  the 
printer's  financial  loss,  Sanchez  opined,  for 
the  students  who  were  leaving  for  the  vaca- 
tion, would  all  have  been  glad  to  buy  and 
carry  home  a  copy.^ 

The  proofs  were  finished  in  May,  and  in 
them  Sanchez,  much  against  his  judgment 
at  times,  followed  the  suggestions  of   his 
clerical  patron,   omitting    the     laudatory 
verses  to  the  Maecenas,  Diego  Lopez  de 
ZMiga,  which  he  had  intended  to  include 
in  the  prehminaries  and  thus  leaving  two 
leaves  blank  before  the  text,  rewriting  the 
prologue,  "Al  lector,"    and   reducing   the 
quotations  in  the  notes. ^    The  little  book 
which  came  from   the  press   has   become 
almost  as  rare  as  the  two  earlier  editions 
of  Garcilaso  alone.    The  only  copies  known 
are   an  imperfect   one   in    the   Biblioteca 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

390 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Nacional,  lacking  six   of  the    preliminary 
leaves,  and  a  perfect  copy  bought  by  the 
writer  in  191 8  and  now  in  the  Library  of 
the  Hispanic  Society  of  America. 

The  edition  of  El  Brocense  was  a  thor- 
ough, scholarly  piece  of  work.    The  text, 
freed  from  numerous  misprints,  was  fur- 
ther   corrected    with  the  aid  of  a  manu- 
script furnished  by  Tomas  de  Vega  and  also 
by  the  penetrating  criticism  of  the  editor. 
The  annotations,  largely  consisting  of  the 
sources,  Latin  or  Italian,  from  which  Gar- 
cilaso's  verses  are  derived,  are  pointed  and 
illuminating.     The  relation  of    Garcilaso 
to    the  earlier  writers  and  to  his  Italian 
contemporaries  was  once  for  all  established. 
The  purpose  of  El  Brocense  was  avowedly 
to  demonstrate  that  Garcilaso  was  worthy 
of  comparison  with  the  Classics;    a  true 
son  of  the  Renaissance,  he  counted  imita- 
tion as  the  first  requisite  of  a  poet,  "digo 
y  afiirmo  que  no  tengo  por  buen  poeta  al 
que  no  imita  a  los  excellentes  antiguos."^ 
But  not  all  his  literary  friends  were  of  the 
same  mind;    they  expressed  their    objec- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


391 


tions  even  before  the  edition  was  in  print, 
and  Sanchez,  following  the  suggestion  of 
his  counsellor,  Juan  Vazquez  del  Marmol, 
took  care  to  defend  his  position  in  his 
Prologue,  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  Italians  had  already  performed  a  simi- 
lar service  in  honor  of  Ariosto  and  Sanna- 
zaro  by  their  annotated  editions  of  the 
Orlando  furioso  and  the  Arcadia. 

This  explanation  of  his  purpose  was  not 
sufficient  to  silence  the  protests  of  his  op- 
ponents, one  of  whom  composed  a  burles- 
que sonnet.  "Against  the  Annotations  of 
Master  Sanchez  when  they  were  printed 
for  the  first  time;  at  the  time  it  was  dis- 
covered in  the  house  of  a  gentleman-  in 
Salamanca," 

Descubierto  se  ha  un  hurto  de  gran  fama 
del  ladron  Garci-Lasso,  que  han  cogido 
con  tres  dosseles  de  la  reyna  Dido 
y  con  seys  almohadas  de  la  cama, 

el  telar  de  Penelope,  y  la  trama 
de  las  Parcas  y  el  arco  de  Cupido, 
tres  barriles  del  agua  del  olvido, 
y  un  prendedero  de  ore  de  su  dama. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


392 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Provosele  que  avia  salteado 
siete  anos  en  Arcadia  y  dado  un  tiento 
en  tiendas  de  poetas  Florentines. 

Es  lastima  de  ver  al  desdichado, 
con  los  pies  en  cadena  de  comento, 
renegar  de  rhetoricos  malsines. 
Sanchez  retorted  with  a  sonnet  in  the 
same  rhymes,  written  on  the  back  of  the 
original  verse  and  the  caption  of  the  answer, 
as  it  appeared  in  the   second  edition  of 
1577,  declared  that  "the  name  of  the  op- 
posing author  is  given,  with  some  of  his 
qualities," 

Descubrense  poetas,  cuya  fama 
podra  tocar  las  ondas  del  olvido, 
que  por  henchir  el  verso  mal  medido 
l6  embuten  de  almohadas  de  la  cama, 
y  buscan  consonantes  de  la  trama 
de  parcas,  tela  y  arcos  de  Cupido, 
sin  sentir  en  sus  versos  mas  sentido 
que  siente  el  prendedero  de  su  dama. 
Y  quieren  dar  juyzio,  mal  pecado, 
que  tal  de  Garci-Lasso  es  el  comento, 
ladrando  a  bulto,  como  los  mastines. 
Es  lastima  de  ver  tan  mal  ganado, 
de  largos  dientes,  corto  entendimiento, 
mas  falsos  que  corcovos  de  rocines. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

393 

As  is  usual  in  such  polemics,  the  answer  is 
far  inferior  to  the  original  and  like  most 
retorts  of  the  kind  has  refuge  in  the  argu- 
mentum  ad  hominem.     Gallardo  has  sug- 
gested that  the  author's  name  is  involved 
in  the  "cov Covos''  of  the  last  line.^    A  cer- 
tain Geronimo  de  los  Cobos  is,  in  fact, 
mentioned  by  Herrera,  who  cites  one  of 
his  poems  in  the  notes  to  Garcilaso.-     If 
this  Cobos  was,  like  Herrera,  a  Sevillan, 
there  is  added  reason  for  his  attack  upon 
the  Salamancan  professor. 

Another  poet  of  Old  Castile,  Geronimo 
de   Lomas   CantoraL   of  Valladolid,    also 
sprang  to  the  defense  of  Sanchez's  anno- 
tations  in   another    sonnet   in   the   same 
rhymes,  pubHshed  in  his  Ohras  in  1578, 

Aquel  cuya  virtud  tu  lengua  infama, 
si  oscurecer  su  luz  algo  has  podido, 
mostro  cruel,  de  madre  vil  nacido, 
y  del  ageno  bien  que  se  derrama 

ni  hurto  jamas,  ni  es  cierto  lo  que  trama 
tu  condicion  perversa,  ni  el  ha  sido 
preso,  ni  el  baxo  nombre  a  merecido 
que  tu  voz  mentirosa  le  da  y  llama. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

394 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Antes  como  a  divino  ya  y  dexado 
de  ti  por  hombre  tal,  con  nuevo  intento 
pudieras  pretender  diversos  fines; 

sino  que  solo  hieren  al  que  a  dado 
el  mundo  justo  lauro  y  digno  assiento, 
iO  fiera  bestia!  tus  palabras  ruynes.^ 

His  championship  of  the  cause,   bad  as  is 
it,  is  a  further  indication  that  the  anony- 
mous critic  of  Sanchez's  edition  belonged 
to  the  Sevillan  school.    We  shall  presently 
see  this  strife  between  the  two  camps  grow- 
ing even  more  bitter. 

Three  years  after  the  publication  of  the 
second  edition  of  El    Brocense,    in    1580, 
there  appeared  at  Seville  a  new    edition 
with  elaborate  notes  and  commentary  by 
the  poet  Fernando  de  Herrera.     At    the 
beginning  of  the  edition  he  included  a  brief 
life  of  the  poet,  the  first  effort  to  trace  his 
career  and  still  valuable,  because  some  of 
his  information  was  obtained  from  Antonio 
Puertocarrero,  son-in-law  of  the  Toledan. 
In  its  direct  contribution  to  our  knowledge 
of  Garcilaso's  work;  his  commentary  adds 
little  to  the  work  of  El  Brocense,  but  its 

HISPANIC   NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

395 

very   diffuseness   makes   it   an   important 
source  for  the  study  of  the  poetic  theories 
of  the  time  and^moreover,  there  are  in- 
cluded a  considerable  ntimber  of  otherwise 
unknown   compositions   by   contemporary 
poets.    Important  as  it  is  in  these  respects, 
intrinsically  it  is  ponderous  and  pompous. 
Tamayo  de  Vargas  laconically  expressed 
the  facts  in  this  style,  "Herrera's  only  pur- 
pose is  to  display  his  own  learning,  San- 
chez's, to  display  the  imitation  of  others.  "^ 

5.     THE  CONTROVERSY  OVER   HERRERA'S 
EDITION 

There    is    reason    for    believing    that 
Herrera  had  begun  the  task  many  years 
before,  for  he  tells  us  that  Juan  de  Malara 
was  one  of  those  who  had  most  urged  him 
to  continue  the  work  which  he  had  begun,^ 
and  Malara  died  in  157 1.    He  also  specific- 
ally claims  the  title  of  priority  over  others, 
saying,  "I  venture  to  say  that  this   edi- 
tion is  beyond  comparison  more  diligently 
and  carefully  emended  than  all  those  which 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

396 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

have  thus  far  been  printed;    and  that  I 
was  the  first  to  set  my  hand  to  the  task. 
For  all  the  corrections,  which  some  people 
boast  of,   pretending  that  they  emended 
them  through  their  own  ingenuity,  were 
long  ago  made  by  me,  before  any  one  con- 
cerned himself  with  the  task.    But  thinking 
that  such  subtleties  were  of  little  import- 
ance,  I   disclosed  them  in  many  places, 
where   others   have    taken   advantage   of 
them."i 

Whether  or  no  Herrera  is  accurate  in  his 
statement  that  he  was  the  first  to  under- 
take the  task  and  to  emend  the  text,  one 
thing  is  certain:   he  was  acquainted  with 
Sanchez's  edition.     Aside  from  the  thinly 
veiled  reference  to  it  in  the  passage  just 
cited,  the  acquaintance  is  shown  in  numer- 
ous details  of  his  edition.     He  prints  six 
of  the  nine  sonnets  which   Sanchez  had 
been  the  first  to  publish;    in  several  pas- 
sages  he   rejects   specifically   the   latter's 
emendations.      But    he     steadily    evades 
mentioning  his  name,  boasting  the  origin- 
ality of  his  own  emendation  or  identifica- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

397 

tion  of  the  source,  even  when  it  is  plain 
that  he  is  but  copying  his  predecessor,  and 
often  going  out  of  his  way  to  suggest  a 
possible  parallel,  rather  than  accept  the 
obvious  citation  of  El  Brocense. 

This  affront  was  too  much  for  CastiHans 
to  bear  without  protest .  It  was  bad  enough 
for  an  Andalusian  to  venture  to  criticize 
the  work  of  a  pure  Toledan;  but  to  claim 
superiority  over  one  of  their  friends,  the 
leading  scholar  of  the  time  and  a  professor 
at  Salamanca !  The  first  to  spring  into  the 
fray  was  a  certain  Damasio,  who  sent  a 
long  letter,  perhaps  in  verse,  from  Valla- 
dolid  to  a  silversmith  in  Seville,  criticizing 
Herrera's  work. 

The  attack  of  Damasio  has  not  survived; 
we  know  of  it  only  through  a  mention  of 
Herrera's.i  But  there  is  little  doubt  that 
this  Damasio  may  be  identified  as  Damasio 
de  Frias  y  Balboa,  named  among  the  poets 
of  Valladolid  in  several  of  the  literary 
catalogues  of  the  time,  such  as  those  of 
Lomas  Cant  oral-,  Cervantes,  ^  Vicente  Espi- 
nel,^  or  Pedro  de  Medina.^     Several  of  his 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

398 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

poems   are   printed  in    Sedano's   Parnaso 
espanol^  and  an  unpublished  work,  Didlogos 
de  diferentes  materias,  mentioned  by    An- 
tonio,2  exists  in  the  Biblioteca  Nacional.^ 
This  was  not  his  only  essay  in  the  field  of 
polemics,  for  Herrera  refers  to  an  earlier 
attack  made  by  him  on  the  Inventario  of 
Villegas  (1565).    Herrera 's  statement  that 
he  was  prompted  by  the  bad  example  which 
Diego  de  Mendoza  had  brought  from  Italy 
would  seem  to  be  an  indication  that   his 
satires  were  written  in  verse,  for  Mendoza 
is  the  first  of  the  poets  to  use  this  form. 

A  second  attack  was  presently  directed 
at  Herrera  by  another  Castilian,  who  used 
the  pseudonym  of  "El  Prete  Jacopin"  and 
who  sent  his  Observaciones   from  Burgos. 
Various  persons  have  been  suggested  as  the 
real  author,  but  there  remains  little  doubt 
that  the  work  is  by   Juan  Fernandez  de 
Velasco,  later  Gran  Condestable  of  Castile." 
Although  known  to    Tamayo    de  Vargas 
and  to  Nicolas  Antonio  in  the  seventeenth 
century    and    to    Gallardo    in    the    early 
nineteenth  century,  the  satire  was  not  pub- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS     ,     399 


lished  until  1870,  when  it  was  printed  by 
the  BibHofilos  Andaluces.  The  Condestable 
was  a  true  Castilian  and  a  man  of  some 
learning;  his  criticisms  of  Herrera  are  for 
the  most  part  sound.  His  defense  of  Gar- 
cilaso's  Castilian  is  eminently  just  and  in 
matters  of  poetic  taste,  he  is  often  much 
closer  to  modem  feeling  than  is  Herrera, 
circimiscribed  as  he  was  by  the  artificial 
rules  of  an  academic  school.  He  has  also 
fallen  with  no  gentle  hand  upon  Herrera 's 
besetting  weakness,  his  pompous  style,  and 
occasionally  succeeded  in  pricking  the  bub- 
ble of  his  erudition.  But  the  personal  ele- 
ment is  exaggerated;  there  is  so  much  un- 
necessary vulgarity  that  his  cause  is 
weakened. 

Herrera  had  allowed  the  first  attack  by 
Damasio  de  Frias  to  pass  unnoticed,  but 
stung  by  the  wide  currency  given  to  the 
invective  of  "El  Prete  Jacopin,"  he  penned 
an  answer  imder  the  simple  disguise  of  a 
Sevillan  friend,  in  which  he  took  up  point 
by  point  the  strictures  of  his  CastiHan 
opponent.     Herrera     lacked   the  piquant 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


400 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

- 

wit  and  easy  pen  of  his  antagonist;    his 
reply  is  ponderous  when  he    attempts  to 
be  humorous  and  his  defense  of  his  original 
statements  is  more  often  an  evasion  of  the 
charge  than  a  controversion  of  the  argu- 
ment.    His  reply  closes  the  acrim^onious 
debate,  which  adds  little  luster  to  the  fame 
of  Garcilaso,  though  it  may  be  counted  as 
an  evidence  of  the  place  of  general  esteem 
to  which  his  verses  had  risen. 

If  the  truth  be  told,  not  all  his  country- 
men looked  with  favor  on  the  peculiar  dis- 
tinction which  had  befallen  him  in  this 
matter  of  commentary.     Luis  Zapata,  al- 
ready  getting   old,   laments  in  his     Mis- 
celdnea^  at  the  divorce  of  his   works  from 
those  of  Boscan,  declaring  that  ''modern 
glossers  are  making  for  him  companions 
whom  he  never  knew  in  life."    And  it  must 
not    be    forgotten     that    "El    Licenciado 
Vidriera"  chooses  as  the  only    companion 
for  his  Book  of  Hours  on  his  travels,    an 
edition  of  Garcilaso  "sin  comento."- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


401 


CHAPTER  Yl 

EL  PRINCIPE  DE  LA  POESIA 

ESPANOLA. 

In  the  Dedication  of  his  edition,  Herrera 
had  styled  Garcilaso  "El  Principe  de  la 
Poesia  Espanola,"  and  this  title,  in  one 
form  or  another,  has  remained  the  uni- 
versal symbol  under  which  readers  of  every 
time  and  tongue  have  paid  him  homage. 
To  list  even  the  names  of  those  who  have 
paid  tribute  to  him  in  his  own  land  would 
be  to  survey  the  history  of  Spanish  liter- 
ature. ^  Such  an  undertaking  is  impossible, 
but  there  are  certain  phases  of  the  cult  of 
Garcilaso  which  are  of  especial  interest. 

First  of  all,  it  is  noteworthy  that  his 
poetry  has  appealed  to  the  taste  of  every 
generation  and  school.  The  changing 
fads  of  style  have  not  dimmed  his  glory; 
men  of  every  kind  of  temperament,  classi- 
cist or  Romantic,  have  turned  to  his  verse 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


402 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

in  admiration.  And  even  those  who  have 
questioned  certain  phases  of  his  glory,  have 
overtly  or  tacitly  accepted  the  justice  of 
his  fame. 

Thus,  the  group  of  Sevillan  critics,  be- 
ginning with  Argote  de  Molina  and  in- 
cluding Herrera  and  Juan  de  la  Cueva, 
who  were  the  first  to  point  out  that  the 
hendecasyllable  had  been  found  in  Spain 
long  before  the  movement  of  Boscan  and 
Garcilaso,  never  questioned  the  perfec- 
tion and  beauty  of  the  latter 's  verse.  And 
in  a  different  way,  the  pious  horror  pf  cer- 
tain reHgious  enthusiasts  of  the  late  six- 
teenth and  early  seventeenth  centuries  at 
the  dangers  inherent  in  his  verse  is  only 
another  method  of  confessing  their  feeling 
of  its  power  and  charm. 

This  all-embracing  horror  of  any  worldly 
delights  was  the  impulse  which  led  a  cer- 
tain Sebastian  de  Cordova  to  publish  in 
1575  an  edition  of  the  works  of  Boscan 
and  Garcilaso,  "trasladadas  en  materias 
Christianas  y  religiosas."  Menendez  y 
Pelayo  has  noted  the  similar  atrocities  per- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

403 

petrated  on  Petrarch's  verse  earlier  in  the 
century.  1     Garcilaso's  fate  is  another  evi- 
dence   of   his    position    as    *'the    Spanish 
Petrarch."    As  an  example  of  the  method 
in  Cordova's  madness,  let  us  cite  this  per- 
version of  one  of  Garcilaso's  most  charm- 
ing sonnets  (No.  XIII), 

A  Mida  las  orejas  le  crecian, 
y  de  bestial  figura  se  tornavan, 
y  el  tierno  pan  sus  manos  transformavan 
en  oro  y  los  manjares  que  trayan. 

En  hambre  y  en  dolor  se  convertian 
el  oro  y  los  thesoros  que  pujavan; 
de  hambre  se  moria  y  no  acabavan 
las  ansias  que  los  huesos  le  royan. 

jO  bestial  avaricia,  o  grave  dano! 
jComo  tu  calidad  yela  y  resfria 
toda  virtud  con  yelo  y  fuerga  brava! 

iO  ceguedad,  o  miserable  engano! 
Que  el  abariento  le  redobla  y  cria 
la  hambre  lo  que  hambre  le  causava.^ 

In  general  his  plan  is  a  simple  one :  BibHcal 
allusions  replace  pagan  mythology;  mystic 
love  displaces  the  amours  of  Garcilaso's 
shepherds   and   shepherdesses.      Thus    he 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

404 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


evolves  the  argument  of  his  rifacimento  of 
the  second  Eclogue:  "Esta  egloga,  en  la 
qual  Garcilaso  dela  Vega  pone  un  pastor 
llamado  Albanio,  aqui  se  llama  Silvano 
(Cordova's  grammar  is  as  erratic  as  his 
verse),  por  la  parte  sensual  del  hombre;  y 
donde  alia  se  llama  otro  pastor  Salicio, 
aqui  se  llama  Racinio,  por  la  razon;  y 
la  pastora  que  alia  le  dize  Camila,  aqui  se 
llama  Celia,  que  es  el  alma;  y  el  pastor 
Nemoroso  se  llama  aqui  Gracioso,  por  la 
gracia,  con  cuya  fuerga  el  hombre  vence  a 
si  mismo.  Y  en  la  ficcion  do  alaba  Gar- 
cilasso  la  succession  de  los  duques  de  Alba, 
aqui  se  ponen  algunos  patriarchas  y  reyes 
de  la  generacion  de  Jesu  Christo,  Redemp- 
tor  Nuestro,  quanto  a  su  sacratissima 
humanidad,  sin  declarar  nombre,  ecepto  el 
del  bien  aventurado  Sant  Joseph,  que 
se  pone  aqui  en  lugar  de  Severo,  el  vie  jo 
tan  sefialado  y  alabado  por  el  dicho  Gar 
cilasso,  y  todo  para  en  alabanga  de  Jesu 
Christo,  Dios  y  hombre  verdadero.''^ 

In  the  third  Eclogue  the  nymphs  are 
none  other  than  Prudence,  Fortitude,  Jus- 


HI  SPANIC    NOTES 


LIFE     AND     WORKS     1     405 


tice  and  Temperance,  who  disport  them- 
selves on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  and  give 
ear  to  the  songs  in  praise  of  the  Virgin, 
sung  by  Phelisio  and  Charino.  It  is  amus- 
ing to  read  in  Cordova's  Elegy  addressed 
to  Luis  de  Vera,  that  Boscan's  Leandro  has 
cost  him  great  effort,  and  not  less  divert- 
ing to  hear  in  his  Epistola  in  blank  verse, 
of  the  ravages  which  the  reading  of  Gar- 
cilaso's  amorous  verse  inflicted  on  his  in- 
nocent spirit.  1  We  find  it  hard  to  under- 
stand to-day  the  extravagance  and  bad 
taste  which  gave  birth  to  such  a  monstruous 
misunderstanding;  that  it  was  not  limited 
to  Sebastian  de  Cordova  seems  clear  from 
the  fact  that  his  edition  "a  lo  divino"  was 
reprinted  two  years  later. 

In  the  same  vein  of  hoiTor  for  beauty, 
Juan  Lopez  de  Ubeda  writes  in  the  Preface 
to  his  Vergel  de  flores  divinas  (1582)  that 
the  only  trace  which  the  works  of  Boscan, 
Garcilaso,  or  Castillejo  will  leave  in  the 
world  is  "  that  left  by  the  passage  of  a 
snake  upon  the  road  or  a  bird  in  the  air."^ 
He  goes  on  to  speak  with  much  unction  of 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


406 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

their  ultimate    repentance,   citing  as  ex- 
amples  the  Conversion  of  Boscan  and  an 
"Elegy  to  the  Soul"  by  Garcilaso.     Even 
more  perturbed  by  the  evil   influence   of 
these  pagan  writers  was  the  mystic  Pedro 
Malon  de  Chaide.     In  the  Preface  to  his 
Conversion  de  la  Magdalena  (1593),  he  thun- 
ders against  the  "Dianas,  Boscans,  Garci- 
lasos  and  Amadises,"  querying,  "How  can 
a  man  who  has  wasted  his  hours  on  Garci- 
laso withdraw  within  himself  to  think  an 
hour  of  God  ?"  and  ending  with  the  sug- 
gestion that    parents    should   bum    such 
books  in  their  children's  hands. ^     Happily 
both  Lopez  de  tJbeda  and  Malon  de  Chaide 
contented  themselves  with  these  protests 
against  the  works  of  the  poets  of  the  past, 
without  attempting  to  maim  them  in  the 
style  of  Sebastian  de  Cordova. 

Their  example  of  restraint  was  not  fol- 
lowed, however,  by  a  certain  Juan  de  Ando- 
silla  Larramendi,  who  printed  in   1628  a 
little    volume    intitled,    "Cristo    Nuestro 
Seiior  en  la  Cruz,  hallado  en  los  versos  de 
Garcilaso."     The  remainder  of  the  title 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


407 


shows  his  methods,  for  these  verses  were 
*'sacados  de  diferentes  partes  y  unidos  con 
ley  de  centones."  Such  a  patchwork  was 
no  slight  task,  as  Fray  Juan  de  la  Plata 
remarked  several  years  later  in  his  Apro- 
bacion  of  a  similar  operation  performed  by 
one  Angulo  y  Pulgar  on  the  works  of 
Gongora.  But  the  same  critic  further 
observed  that,  though  Andosilla  had  done 
his  work  painstakingly  and  ingeniously, 
the  result  is  rough  and  harsh  to  the  ear, 
the  more  so  because  it  is  in  blank  verse 
which  is  so  little  fitted  for  Castilian  art.^ 

The  work  of  Andosilla  was  almost  a  coup 
de  grace  for  Garcilaso.  In  1622  Tamayo 
de  Vargas,  a  learned  Toledan,  had  pub- 
lished a  new  annotated  edition  of  the  poems 
of  his  fellowtownsman,  deriving  his  mate- 
rial largely  from  Sanchez  and  Herrera,  al- 
though he  did  have  access  to  a  manuscript 
of  the  Escorial,  once  the  property  of  Diego 
de  Mendoza,  to  assist  him  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  text.  This  edition  was  the 
last  printed  in  Spain  for  nearly  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,  unless  we  count  the 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


408 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

• 

two  editions  of  Luis  de  Briceno,  printed  at 
Lisbon  in   1626  and   1632   and  based  on 
Tamayo's  text,   as  belonging  to   Spanish 
territory. 

Another  phase  of  interest  in  the  general 
popularity  of  Garcilaso  was  the  high  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held  by  all  the  great  fig- 
ures of  the  Golden  Age.    Cervantes,  whose 
literary  judgment,  was,  it  is  true,  far  from 
infallible,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  praises 
scattered  through  his  Canto  de  Calliope  or 
the    Viaje  del  Parnaso,  echoed  Herrera's 
title    and    ardent    praise    of    Garcilaso. 
Throughout  his  works,  particularly  in  the 
Second  Part  of  the  Quixote,  there  are  fre- 
quent reminiscences  of  his  poetry,  some- 
times ha  If -unconscious  repetitions   of  his 
phraseology,  sometimes  actual  quotations. 
One  of  the  most  striking  of  his  allusions  is 
the  passage  in  Book  LVII  of  the  Second 
Part  in  which  Don  Quixote  and  Sancho 
come  upon  a  group  of  merry-makers  play- 
ing two  eclogues,  one  of  which  is  the  Second 
Eclogue  of  our  poet.     Finally  at  the  close 
of  his  Adjunta  al  Parnaso  he  names  Gar- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


409 


cilaso  as  one  of  the  poets  who  have  won 
the  title  of  "El  Divino."^ 

To  Lope  de  Vega  as  well,  Garcilaso  is 
"El  Divino"  and  in  all  his  works  "The 
Phoenix"  manifests  the  most  ardent  admi- 
ration for  the  Toledan  poet,  counting  him 
at  once  as  the  initiator  of  the  new  school 
and  the  supreme  example  of  that  good 
taste  which  was  so  rapidly  falling  into  dis- 
repute. In  the  Papel  de  la  nueva  poesia, 
he  cites  Garcilaso  and  Herrera  as  the 
noblest  models  for  imitation  which  Spanish 
literature  offers.  And  again  in  the  famous 
sotinet  "A  la  nueva  lengua'"  of  the  cultos, 
Garcilaso  and  Boscan  represent  the  soimd 
old  CastiHan  tradition,  amazed  and  dumb- 
foimded  at  the  jargon  of  the  cultos,  fancy- 
ing that  they  are  still  in  Vizcaya.  The 
Laurel  de  A  polo  is  sprinkled  with  refer- 
ences to  Garcilaso,  who  appears  always  as 
the  recognized  master  of  the  poets  of 
Spain, 

que  nadie  el  principado 
de  aquella  edad  le  niega. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


410 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Lope  was  too  national  a  spirit  to  scorn  the 
native  Castilian  measures;    in  several  pas- 
sages, he  expressly  defends  them  from  the 
charge  of  inferiority  to  the  versos  largos  of 
Italy  but  he  saw  plainly  what  a  service 
Boscan  and  Garcilaso  had  performed  in 
enriching  the  treasure   of   Spanish    verse 
and  he  himself  is  perhaps  the  best  example 
of  the  free  and  masterly  employment  of 
both  types. 

Of  the  other  leading  figures  of  the  Golden 
Age,  we  need  cite  only  a  few  who  testified 
to  their  admiration  for  Garcilaso.     Que- 
vedo,  like  Lope  de  Vega,  looked  upon  Gar- 
cilaso as  the  best  antidote  for  the  excesses 
of  the  cuUos, 

mientras  por  preservar  nuestros  Pegasos 
del  mal  olor  de  culta  gerigonza, 
quemamos  por  pastillas  Garcilasos.^ 

In  the  same  vein,  "El  Gran  Tacafio"  gives 
as  one  of  the  titles  which  fit  him  to  become 
a  writer  of  satisfactory  comedies  the  fact 
that  "he  had  read  Garcilaso.  "2 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


411 


It  is  doubly  interesting  to  find  that 
Gongora,  the  leader  of  the  school  of  cidte- 
ranismo,  regarded  him  with  no  less  admira- 
tion than  the  opponents  of  the  school,  as 
he  shows  in  his  canciofi  "Al  sepulcro  de 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega," 

Piadoso  oy  zelo  culto, 

sino  el  hecho  de  artifice  elegante, 

de  marmol  espirante, 

un  generoso  anima  y  otro  buito, 

aqui  donde  entre  jaspes  y  entre  oro 

talamo  es  mudo,  tumulo  canoro. 

Aqui  donde  coloca 

justo  afecto  en  aguja  no  eminente 

sino  en  urna  decente 

esplendor  mucho  si  ceniza  poca, 

bienque  milagros  despreciando  Egipcios 

pira  es  suya  este  monte  de  edificios. 

Si  tu  passo  no  enfrena, 

tan  bella  en  marmol  copia,  io  caminante! 

essa  es  la  ya  sonante 

emula  de  las  trompas,  ruda  avena, 

a  quien  del  Tajo  deben  oy  las  flores 

el  dulce  lanientar  de  dos  pastores. 

Este  el  curvo  instrumento 
que  el  Albano  canto,  segundo  Marte, 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


412 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

de  sublime  ya  parte 

pendiente  quando  no  pulsarlo  al  viento 

solicitarlo  oyo  silva  confusa, 

ya  a  docta  sombra,  ya  a  invisible  Musa, 

vestido  pues  el  pecho 

tunica  Apolo  de  diamante  gruessa. 

Parte  la  dura  guessa, 

con  la  que  en  dulce  lago  el  blando  lecho, 

si  otra  inscripcion  deseas,  vete  zedo: 

lamina  es  qualquier  piedra  de  Toledo.^ 

Gongora's    enthusiasm    for    the    Toledan 
poet  is  not,  after  all,  surprising.    There  is 
nothing  in  his  canon  of  art  which  is  funda- 
mentally opposed  to  that  of  iiis  predecessor; 
his  methods   of   composition   are  not  es- 
sentially different.    It  is  rather  the  contrast 
between  Garcilaso's  simple  good  taste  and 
Gongora's    complicated   bad   taste    which 
sets  them  at  the  two  extremes  of  style. 

It  was  the  development  of  this  trend  of 
bad  taste  which  led  to  the  neglect  of  Gar- 
cilaso's works  in  the  late  seventeenth  and 
early  eighteenth  centuries.     Although  the 
preceptists,  like  Jimenez  Paton  in  his  Mer- 
curius  trimegistus  (1621)  or   Lorenzo  Gra- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 

413 

cian  in  his  Agudeza  y  arte  de  ingenio  (1648), 
frequently    cited    verses    of    Garcilaso    as 
models  of  good  form/  their  influence  was 
of  little  avail;   Garcilaso  was  well-nigh  for- 
gotten. 

With  the  revival  of  good  taste  which  is 
marked  by  the  introduction  of  the  French 
school  in  the  eighteenth  century,  Garcilaso 
once  more   became   a  theme   of   interest. 
Luzan,  in  his  essay,  La  poetica,  is  most 
eulogistic  in  his  estimate,  declaring  that  a 
single  one  of  the  sonnets  of  Garcilaso  is 
more  to  be  esteemed  than  all  the  conceits 
and  affectation  of  Gongora  or  the    other 
poets  of  his  ilk.^     Velazquez,  too,  in  his 
Origenes  de  la  poesia  castellana    (1754)  is 
equally  laudatory.  ^     This  renewal  of  in- 
terest culminated  in  the  publication  of  an 
excellent  edition  of  his  poems  in  1765,  pre- 
pared by  the  distinguished  diplomat  and 
scholar,  Jose  Nicolas  de  Azara.    Not  only 
was  this  edition  followed  by  a  steady  suc- 
cession of  reprints,  some  of  them,  issued 
from   the   press   of    Sancha,   undoubtedly 
directed  by  Jose  Antonio  Pellicer,  but  also 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

414 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

a  large  place  was  given  to  his  verses  in  the 
numerous  anthologies  of  the  time,  begin- 
ning with  the  Parnaso  espanol  and  ending 
with  Quintana's  Poesias  selectas  castellanas. 
Garcilaso  was  once  more  regarded  as  a 
representative  of  the  good  taste  in  liter- 
ature which  had  led  Lope  de  Vega  so  often 
to    turn    to   his    example    for    arguments 
against  the  culteranos.     So,  in  La  derrota 
de  los  pedant  s  of  the  younger  Moratin,  he 
is  the  commander  of  the  right  wing  of  the 
cohorts   of   Apollo   and   is   wounded    and 
driven  from  the  field  of  battle  by  a  terrific 
blow  on  the  chest  from  the  Macabeo  of 
Silveira,  which  has  already  struck  Bara- 
hona  de  Sota  in  passing. \    This  esteem  for 
him  continues  in  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century.     Gallego  wrote  an  ex- 
cellent sonnet  in  1807,  "A  la  memoria  de 
Garcilaso"-  and  in  the  same  year  Quint  ana 
published  his  first  edition  of  Poesias  selec- 
tas castellanas,  containing  numerous  com- 
positions by  him.     In  his    Introduction, 
Quintana  studies  the  work  of  Garcilaso, 
answering  the  charge  that  he  lacked  origin- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


ality  and  commenting  on  his  mastery  of 
form  and  the  purity  of  his  language.  His 
final  dictimi  is  that  "Garcilaso  is,  if  not 
the  greatest  CastiKan  poet,  at  leaEt  the 
most  classic,  the  poet  who  has  enjoyed  the 
widest  popularity,  whose  reputation  has 
been  least  questioned  and  who  probably 
will  not  perish  as  long  as  there  is  a  Cas- 
tilian  language  and  Castilian  poetry,  "i 

Echoes  of  this  same  enthusiasm  are  to 
be  foiind  in  the  Anotaciones  a  la  Poetica 
of  Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  who  constantly 
turns  to  Garcilaso  as  the  great  master  of 
Spanish  versification,  calling  him  "el  mas 
dulce  de  nuestros  poetas."^  As  late  as 
1844  we  find  Lista  defending  Garcilaso  and 
the  others  poets  of  the  sixteenth  century 
from  the  charge  of  being  merely  imitators, 
which  had  been  made  against  them  in  an 
article  in  the  Liceo  espanol.^  With  his 
eminently  classical  turn  of  mind,  Lista 
goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  "Garcilaso  is  so 
profoundly  tender,  so  highly  original  in  the 
song  of  Nemoroso,  because  in  the  song  of 
Salicio  he  imitated  Virgil  with  such  per- 


415 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


416 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

fection."     But  in  general,  the  period  from 
1830  to  1850  showed  little  interest  in  Gar- 
cilaso.     The   Romantic  school  was  more 
fascinated    with    mediaeval   legends   than 
with  the  loves  of   shepherds.     There   was 
no  edition  of  Garcilaso  printed  between 
1828  and  i860. 

In  1850  there  appeared  the  first  scholarly 
life  of  Garcilaso  by  Eustaquio  Fernandez 
de  Navarrete,  based  on    documents  com- 
piled by  his  illustrious  father.    Navarrete 's 
criterion  was  not  always  sound;    he  too 
often  accepts  traditional  statements  as  of 
the  same  value  as  the  documents  he  pub- 
lished.   But  his  work  added  greatly  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  poet  and  made  clear  a 
number  of  doubtful  episodes  in  his  life. 
Since  the  publication  of  his  work,  interest 
in  the  poet  has  been  unflagging,  revealed 
in  such  widely  divergent  criticisms  as  that 
of  Manuel  Canete,  read  before  the  Acad- 
emy in  1858,  and    that  of  Azorin  in  his 
essay  on  Garcilaso  and  Gongora,  published 
in    his    Lecturas    espanolas    in    191 2.      To 
Cafiete,  Garcilaso 's  poetry  fails  of  its  full 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

417 

effect  because  of  its  pagan  neglect  of  Chris- 
tianity; his  indifference  to  Nature  is  one 
of  the  defects  of  his  generation.  To  Azorin, 
it  is  precisely   his   intimate   sensation   of 
natural  beauty  which,  added  to   his    per- 
fection of  form,  gives  his  work  its  greatest 
charm. 

Not  only  have  critics  concerned  them- 
selves with  his  work,  but  scholars  as  well 
have  contributed  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
man  and  his  writings  by  frequent  inves- 
tigations or  by  the  publication  of  docu- 
ments.    It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  late 
Menendez  y  Pelayo  did  not  live  to  com- 
plete his  study  of  the  poet,  for  which  he 
had  already  gathered  the  materials.     His 
broad  reading  and  his  sensitive  taste,  par- 
ticularly for  the  beauties   of  classic  art, 
would  have  made  his  work  of  inestimable 
value.    The  volimie  in  the  Antologia,  which 
he  was  to  have  contributed,  has  since  been 
written  by  Sr.  Jose  Rogerio  Sanchez.     It 
is  plainly   an  improvisation.     These   last 
years  have  witnessed  the  publication  of  at 
least  four  editions  of  his  poems  in  popular 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

418 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

editions   of   the   Castilian   classics.      Gar- 
cilaso  is  not  merely  one  of  the  great  names 
in  the  national  literature  of  Spain;    he  is 
still  a  source  of  delight  to  all  who  read 
Spanish. 

In  a  country  as  devoted  to  the  drama  as 
Spain,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  brief, 
romantic  life  of  the  poet  was  made  a  theme 
for  the  theatre.     Already  in  the  Carlos  V 
en  Francia  of  Lope  de  Vega,  Garcilaso  ap- 
pears as  one  of  the  courtiers  with  an  insig- 
nificant role.    In  the  British  Museum  there 
exists    an    unpublished    comedia,    intitled 
"Garcilaso  enamorado;    amores,  versos  y 
muerte."  The  manuscript  is  dated  Madrid, 
September  20,   161 8  and  is  signed  Diego 
Seron  Spinossa,  but  no  information  seems 
available  as  to  the  author  or  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  play.    The  plot,  briefly  summed 
up,  tells  of  Garcilaso 's  love  for  Dofia  Maria 
and  his  neglect  of  his  former  mistress,  a 
French   lady,    Doiia   Porcia.      Hearing  of 
Dofia   Maria's   approaching  marriage,   he 
raves  in  the  garden  in  verses  which  once 
Salicio  had  simg,  and  then  starts  for  the 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


419 


wars,  where  he  is  wounded  in  the  arms 
and  mouth,  so  that  he  can  say  only,  "Ba! 
Ba!"  After  Dona  Maria's  marriage  he 
once  more  returns  to  the  field  of  battle. 
There  he  learns  from  Doiia  Porcia  of  Dona 
Maria's  death  and  enters  the  fray,  to  fall 
in  death  at  the  foot  of  the  tower.  Artistic- 
ally the  play,  which  introduces  a  galaxy  of 
notables,  including  Charles  V,  Sclyman  the 
Magnificent,  Barbarrosa,  Antonio  de  Leiva, 
the  Duke  of  Alba,  Boscan  and  Diego  de 
Mendoza,  is  quite  negligible.  Its  only 
interest  depends  upon  its  use  of  the  poet's 
own  verses,  which  are  introduced,  more  or 
less  a  propos,  throughout  the  entire  work. 
Once  more,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  we 
find  the  story  of  the  poet  used  as  the  sub- 
ject of  a  play  in  the  "Garcilaso  de  la  Vega" 
(1840)  of  Gregorio  Romero  y  Larraiiaga. 
Here  the  plot  is  wholly  fantastic,  adorned 
with  all  the  devises  of  intrigue  and  sur- 
prise which  the  vagaries  of  the  type  tol- 
erated. The  scene  is  laid  in  Bologna  in 
1530;  Garcilaso's  love  for  the  Duchess  of 
Lerida  ends  in  a  sentence  of  exile  to  the 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


420 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Danube.    One  of  the  most  amusing  scenes 
is  that  in  which   Garcilaso  is  hailed  as 
"Father  of  the  Castilian  Language"  and. 
crowned  ''King  of  Poets"  by  a  group  of 
contemporary   poets    including   Cristobal 
de  Castillejo  !    There  is  no  intrinsic  merit 
in  either  of  these  dramatic  works,  yet  they 
point  once  more  to  the  permanent  and  wide- 
spread cult  of  Garcilaso  as  one  of  the  na- 
tion's glories. 

Outside  of  Spain,  Italy  was  naturally  the 
first  country  to  recognize  the  fame  of  Gar- 
cilaso.    The  occasional  references  to  him 
by  his  contemporaries  in   Italy  we  have 
already  mentioned,  in  discussing  his  life. 
After  his  death,  he  was  still  remembered. 
Tansillo,  who  had  addressed  two  of  his 
sonnets  to  him,  used  his  first  Eclogue  in 
writing  his  Canzone  VII  and  another  mem- 
ber of  the  Neapolitan  school,  the  poetess, 
Laura  Terracina,  is  said  by  Herrera  to  have 
applied  to  him  as  an  epitaph,  a  stanza  of 
the  Orlando  furioso, 

Un  giovinetto  che  col  dolce  canto, 
Concorde  al  suon  de  la  cornuta  cetra, 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


421 


d'intenerire  un  cor  si  dava  vanto, 
ancor  che  fosse  piu  duro  che  pietra. 
Felice  lui,  se  contentar  di  tanto 
onor  sapeasi,  e  scudo,  arco  e  faretra 
aver  in  odio,  e  scimitarra  e  lancia, 
che  lo  fecer  morir  giovine  in  Francia. 
(XVI,  72) 

At  the  end  of  his  Elogia  doctorum  viro- 
runt  (1550),  Paolo  Giovio  added  a  brief 
note  on  the  scholars  of  other  countries  and 
there  he  mentions  Garcilaso  as  one  of  the 
first  in  Spain  to  pursue  learning,  praising 
his  Latin  odes  for  their  Horatian  suavity 
and  recounting  his  untimely  death  in 
France.^  Two  years  later  Antonfrancesco 
Doni  included  in  his  Pistolotti  amorosi  an 
almost  verbatim  translation  of  Garcilaso 's 
Sonnet  XXIX, 

Passando  il  mar  Leandro  coraggioso, 
in  amoroso  fuoco  tutto  ardendo, 

stating  that  it  was  translated  from  the 
Spanish  but  without  naming  the  author. ^ 
Tansillo  was  not  the  only  author  of  the 
Cinquecento  who  found  inspiration  in  the 
poet's  first  Eclogue.    Ludovico  Patemo  in 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


422 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

the  third  of  the  Egloghe  amorose,  printed 
in  his   Nuove  fiamme  (1568)^  paraphrased 
the  laments  of  both  Salicio  and  Nemoroso 
in    pedestrian    versi    sciolti,    thinking    the 
Spanish  poet  not  unworthy  of  a  place  be- 
side Petrarch,  his  normal  model.     In  the 
following  century,  the  chief  representative 
of  the  Italian  form  of  Gongorism,  Giam- 
battista  Marino,  accorded  to  Garcilaso  a 
portrait  among  the  pitture  of  La  galeria 
(1620), 

Del  poetico  giorno 

aperse  al  clima  Ispano  i  primi  albori 

il  raggio  mattutin  de'  miei  splendor! ; 

hor  se  I'occaso  suo  rendere  adorno 

puo  di  luce  immortale, 

aurora  occidentale 

ornare  il  nome  de  la  patria  mia 

lucifero  e  non  Hespero  devria.^ 

The  distinction  is  the  greater  because  the 
only  other  foreigner  to  win  a  place  in  his 
Temple  of  Fame  is  Ronsard. 

Although  the  great  scholar  and  theorist, 
Ludovico  Muratori,  was  familiar  with  the 
work  of  Garcilaso,  as  is  shown  by  his  cita- 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS         423 


tion  from  the  poet's  Cancion  IV,  in  his 
treatise  Delia  perfetta  poesia,  (1706)/  there 
was  no  general  knowledge  of  the  Castilian 
writer  during  the  eighteenth  century  until 
the  period  of  the  prolonged  quarrel  be- 
tween BettineUi  and  Tiraboschi  and  their 
followers  on  one  hand  and  Lampillas  and 
his  coterie  on  the  other,  over  the  responsi- 
biHty  for  the  origin  of  bad  taste  in  Europ- 
ean letters. 

An  ItaHan,  Giambattista  Conti,  resident 
in  Madrid,  pubUshed  there  in  1773  a  trans- 
lation into  ItaKan  of  the  first  Eclogue, 
and  in  his  subsequent  Scelta  di  poesie 
castigliane  (1782-90)  devoted  the  whole  of 
the  second  volume  to  translations  of  his 
works.  Lampillas,  as  might  be  expected, 
was  an  ardent  enthusiast  over  Garcilaso's 
genius. 2  Another  Itahan  of  the  same  peri- 
od, Gianfrancesco  Masdeu,  —  he  may  be 
regarded  as  an  Italian  in  spite  of  his  Cata- 
lan birth,  —  author  of  the  Hist  or  ia  critica 
de  Espana  y  de  la  cultura  espafwla,  also 
produced  an  anthology  of  translations  from 
the  Spanish,  \Tiiig  with  that  of  Conti,  in 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


424 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

which  a  considerable  place  is  accorded  to 
Garcilaso. 

This  current  of  interest  in  our  poet, 
stagnant  during  most  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  has  recently  been  renewed  by 
several  scholars  in  Naples,  where  the  poet 
spent  the  most  creative  years  of  his  life. 
In  particular  the  researches  of  Signor 
Benedetto  Croce,  the  distinguished  philos- 
opher, and  of  Signor  Eugenio  Mele  have 
added  in  no  small  measure  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  life  and  the  literary  activity  of 
Garcilaso. 

We  have  seen  the  early  influence  which 
Garcilaso  exercised  on  the  Portuguese 
poet  Sa  de  Miranda.  His  reputation  was 
known  to  other  ports  of  the  time  as  well, 
such  as  Antonio  Ferreira^  or  Diogo  Ber- 
nardes,2  who  celebrated  his  fame,  along 
with  that  of  Boscan,  as  the  founder  of  the 
new  school.  The  tradition  of  interest  in 
his  work  is  best  illustrated  in  the  lyrics  of 
the  greatest  of  Portuguese  poets,  Luis  de 
Camoes.  ^  Among  his  Rimas  are  to  be 
found  not  merely  reminiscenses  of  the  Cas- 

HISPANIC   NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


425 


tilian  poet,  but  frequent  imitations,  adapta- 
tions, translations  and  even  parodies.  As 
an  example  of  the  skill  with  which  he  used 
his  borrowed  material  it  will  suffice  to 
quote  his  paraphrase  of  Garcilaso's  Sonnet 
XI: 

Moradoras  gentis  e  delicadas 
do  claro  e  aureo  Tejo,  que  metidas 
estays  em  suas  grutas  escondidas, 
e  com  doce  repouso  sossegadas; 

agora  esteys  de  amores  infiamadas, 
nos  cristalinos  Pages  entretidas, 
agora  no  exercicio  embevecidas 
das  telas  de  euro  puro  matizadas. 

Movey  dos  lindos  rostros  a  luz  pura 
de  vossos  olhos  belles,  consent inde 
que  lagrimas  derramen  de  tristura; 

e  assi  com  der  maes  prepia  ireys  ouvindo 
as  quexas  que  derrame  da  ventura, 
que  com  penas  de  Amor  me  vay  seguindo.^ 
In  form  as  well  he  is  indebted  to  him  whom 
he  calls  "o  brando  e  doce  Lasso."  Thus  he 
employs  the  Spaniard's  lira  in  his  third 
Ode  and  in  his  eclogues,  which  are  poly- 
metric  he  gives  a  Portuguese  example  of 
the  inner  rhyme. - 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


426 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

In  the  following  century  the  reputation 
of  Garcilaso  resisted  the  influx  of  the  uni- 
versal wave  of  bad  taste.  Even  as  par- 
tisan a  culterano  as  Francisco  Manoel  de 
Mello  begrudgingly  acknowledges  Garci- 
laso's  claim  to  the  primacy  in  the  Castilian 
Parnassus  in  his  Hospital  das  letras,  first 
printed  in  his  Apologos  dialogaes  (17  21); 
the  other  poets  of  the  sixteenth  century  he 
unhesitatingly  assigns  to  Limbo.^  Nor 
should  we  forget  the  enthusiastic  praise  ac- 
corded to  him  by  the  author  of  the  ill- 
digested  commentary  on  Camoes,  Manoel 
de  Faria  e  Sousa.  In  Portugal,  as  in  Spain, 
Garcilaso's  fame  was  unquestioned,  uni- 
versal. 

Beyond  the  Pyrenees  the  earliest  evi- 
dence of  acquaintance  with  his  work  is  an 
imitation  of  his  second  Eclogue,  the  Pas- 
torale amoureuse  (1569)  of  Frangois  de  Belle- 
forest.  2  A  decade  later,  the  Protestant 
poet,  Guillaume  de  Saluste,  seigneur  du 
Bartas,  mentions  Garcilaso  among  the  lead- 
ing men  of  letters  in  Spain  in  his  religious 
epic,  La  semaine  (1579), 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

- 

427 

Guevare,  le  Boscan,  Grenade,  et  Garcilace, 
abreuvez  du  nectar  qui  rit  dedans  la  tasse 
de  Pitho  verse-miel,  portent  le  Castillan.^ 

But  these  early  evidences  of  interest  were 
not  destined  to  be  continued.    Aside  from 
a  few  passing  mentions  in  such  works  as 
VApollon,  ou  r oracle  de  la  poesie  italienne 
et  espagnole  (1644)  of  Bense-Dupuis^  or  the 
Noiivelle  methode  pour  apprendre  facilement 
la  langue   espagnole,   found   in   Lancelot's 
Grammaire  generale  et  raisonee  (,1660)'  the 
name  of  Garcilaso  remained  unknown  imtil 
the  nineteenth  century.     During  the  first 
decades  of  the  last  century  a  number  of 
works  contained  discussions  of  his  poetry; 
first  in  point  of  time  was  the  little  anony- 
mous Essai  sur  la  litterature  espagnole,  the 
work  of  Malmontel.     Longer  articles  ap- 
peared in  the  French  translation  of  Bouter- 
wek    (1813)    or  in  Sismondi's  De  la  litte- 
rature du  midi  de  V Europe  (1813).  Finally 
France  received  an  opportunity  to   study 
his  works  at  first  hand  through  the   edi- 
tions printed  at  Paris  in   181 7  and  1821 
and    also   through   the   translations   into 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

428 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

French  by  the  Malagan  poet,  Juan  Maria 
Maury  (1826). 

Of  the  many  critics  and  scholars  who 
have  turned  their  attention  to  Garcilaso 
in  more  modern  times  special  mention 
need  be  made  of  only  two :  the  enthusiastic 
criticism  of  his  poems  in  the  Histoire  com- 
paree  des  litteratures  espagnole  et  franqaise 
(1843)  of  Puibusque  and  the  admirable 
study  of  his  work  in  the  Histoire  de  la 
poesie  espagnole  of  the  Belgian  scholar, 
Ferdinand  Loise. 

The  northern  countries  of  Europe  offer 
a  much  slighter  acquaintance  with  Gar- 
cilaso, as  might  be  expected.  In  Germany 
the  only  mention  of  his  work  until  the 
eighteenth  century  is  the  brief  article  on 
him  in  Andreas  Schott's  Hispaniae  biblio- 
theca,  printed  at  Frankfurt  in  1608;  and 
Schott  was  a  Fleming.  During  the  latter 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  was  a 
real  wave  of  interest  in  Hispanic  studies 
in  Germany,  with  its  centre  at  Gottingen. 
In  1769  Dieze  in  his  excellent  translation 
of  the  Origenes  de  la  poesia  castellana  of 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS         429 

i 


Velazquez  devoted  a  large  attention  to  the 
work  of  Garcilaso  and  thirty-five  years 
later  another  professor  of  the  same  univer- 
sity, Friedrich  Bouterwek,  produced  the 
first  history  of  Spanish  literature,  the 
"Geschichte  der  spanischen  Poesie  and 
Beredsarnkeit"  (1804).  Bouterwek's  opin- 
ions are  colorless,  and  the  space  which  he 
dedicates  to  the  study  of  the  life  and  works 
of  Garcilaso  is  small  in  proportion  to  that 
which  he  gives  Boscan,  or  Diego  de  Men- 
doza,  for  example.  As  Menendez  y  Pelayo 
has  justly  remarked,  the  northern  critics, 
who  read  with  their  eyes  rather  than 
listen  to  the  verse  with  their  ears,  have 
always  shown  a  greater  charity  toward 
Boscan  than  have  his  own  people.  One 
other  sign  of  acquaintance  with  Garcilaso 
which  concerns  Germany  must  be  men- 
tioned: the  few  examples  of  his  verse  which 
were  printed  in  the  Floresta  de  rimas  anti- 
guas  castellanas  of  Johann  Nicholas  Bohl 
von  Faber,  unless  we  prefer  to  call  him 
Juan  Nicolas  and  count  him  among  thej 
Spaniards,   with   whom   his   own   literary 


AND    MONOGRAPHS    i 

L 


430 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

activity  as  well  as  that  of  his  daughter, 
Feman  Caballero,  is  inseparably  connected. 

It  is  probable  that  Garcilaso  was  un- 
known in  England  before  the  appearance 
of  the  Arcadian  Rhetorike  (1588)  of 
Abraham  Fraunce,  unless  it  be  that  a  pas- 
sage in  the  sixth  eclogue  of  the  Eglogs, 
Epytaphes  and  Sonnettes  (1563)  of  Bamaby 
Googe  is  an  imitation  of  a  scene  in  his 
second  Eclogue.  Fraunce  cites  in  all  forty 
lines  of  Garcilaso,  with  one  exception 
drawn  from  the  Eclogues.  It  seems  prob- 
able that  he  was  led  to  his  acquaintance 
with  the  work  of  the  Spanish  poet  by  his 
reading  of  La  Semaine  of  du  Bartas,  for 
all  the  examples  which  he  cites  from 
foreign  authors  are  from  poets  mentioned 
by  the  French  writer.  It  is  interesting  to 
find  that  he  too  regarded  Boscan  as  the 
more  important  poet,  if  we  may  judge 
again  by  numbers,  for  he  cites  over  two 
hundred  of  his  verses. ^ 

As  in  France,  this  early  evidence  of  a 
knowledge  of  Garcilaso 's  poems  remained 
isolated  until  the   beginning  of  the  last 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


431 


centtiry.  In  1800  an  Italian,  Gaetano 
Ravizzotti,  published  at  Romney  an  an- 
thology of  Castilian  poetry,  containing  the 
three  Eclogues  of  Garcilaso  and  five  of  his 
lyrics,  with  a  brief  life  of  the  poet.  Un- 
doubtedly from  this  collection  Horace  Wal- 
pole  made  his  translation  of  a  part  of  the 
first  Eclogue  and  a  sonnet  (No.  XXIII) 
which  he  published  anonymously  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1805,  imder  the  title  Isabel,  from 
the  Spanish  of  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  with 
other  poems  and  translations  frofn  the  Greek, 
Italian,  etc.  The  next  work  which  treats 
of  him  is  Lord  Holland's  "Life  of  Lope  de 
Vega"  (181 7),  in  which  there  is  a  brief  men- 
tion of  his  verses  and  a  translation  of  one 
of  his  poorer  sonnets  (No.  XXXI V).^ 
Passing  over  the  little  Essay  on  Spanish 
Literature  (181 8)  of  Anaya,  we  come  to  two 
publications  of  interest  in  1823:  the 
English  translation  of  Bouterwek  and  more 
important  for  us,  the  translation  of  Garci- 
laso's  poems  by  J.  H.  Wiffen.  Wiffen  pre- 
faced his  work  by  a  long  and  romanticly 
inaccurate'  life'of  the  poet  and  a  free  adap- 


AND     MONOGRAPHS 


432 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

tation     of     Quintana's     Introduction     on 
Spanish  poetry.    His  translations  are  close, 
often  too  close,  but  as  a  whole  they  leave 
but  a  vague  impression  of  the  music  of 
the  original.     No  two  languages  are  more 
fundamentally  different  in  natural  qualities 
than  English  and  Spanish.     The  attempt 
to  reproduce  in  English  the  tender  grace- 
fulness of  Garcilaso's  verse  must  inevitably 
lead  to  a  style  that  to  us  sounds  sentimental 
and  even  "namby-pamby."     Even  at  his 
best  this  is  the  weakness  of  Wiffen's  ver- 
sions; witness  the  following  stanza: 

Here  ceased  the  youth  his  Doric  madrigal, 
And  sighing,  with  his  last  laments  let  fall 
A  shower  of  tears;    the  solemn  mountains 

round, 
Indulgent  of  his  sorrow,  tossed  the  sound 
Melodious  from  romantic  steep  to  steep, 
In  mild  responses  deep; 

Sweet  Echo,  starting  from  her  couch  of  moss. 
Lengthened  the  dirge,  and  tenderest  Philomel, 
As  pierced  with  grief  and  pity  at  his  loss. 
Warbled  divine  reply,  nor  seemed  to  trill 
Less  than  Jove's  nectar  from  her  mournful  bill. 
What  Nemoroso  sang  in  sequel,  tell 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


433 


Ye,  sweet-voiced  Sirens  of  the  sacred  hill! 
Too  high  the  strain,  too  weak  my  grovehng 

reed. 
For  me  to  dare  proceed. 

The  rest  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw 
no  striking  proofs  of  an  interest  in  Gar- 
cilaso  in  England,  except  in  the  sound  crit- 
icism of  iSIr.  James  Fitzmaurice-Kelly  as 
it  appears  in  his  History  of  Spanish  Liter- 
ature. But  in  the  New  World  of  English 
speech,  one  scholar  at  least  has  given  at- 
tention to  the  story  of  the  life  and  work 
of  the  Spanish  poet,  that  is  George  Ticknor. 
The  care  with  which  Ticknor  read  his 
verses  is  made  plain  by  the  copious  margin- 
al notes  which  he  pencilled  in  his  personal 
copy  of  the  poems. ^  His  discussion  of  Gar- 
cilaso  in  his  History  of  Spanish  Literature 
is  penetrating  and  just;  his  brief  transla- 
tions of  passages  from  the  first  Eclogue, 
done  in  blank  verse,  are  infinitely  more 
satisfactory^  than  those  of  Wiffen.  "We  can- 
not end  with  a  more  fitting  summary  of 
Garcilaso's  place  in  the  hterature  of  Spain 
than  his  statement:    "Garcilaso  has  come 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


434 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

down  to  us  enjoying  a  general  national  rep- 
utation such  as  is  given  to  hardly  any  other 
Spanish  poet,  and  to  none  that  lived  before 
his  time." 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

435 

APPENDIX  A 

PRUEBA   DE   NOBLEZA   DE    GARCILASO 

DE   LA   VEGA. 

(Archivo  historico  nacional.    Ordenes  militarea.     San- 
tiago.   Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  y  de  Guzmdn. 
Toledo,  1523.  N°.  8613.) 

Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega.  En  Burgos  a 
xi  de  Setiembre  de  jMDxxiij  anos. 

Pero  Abrera,  vezino  de  la  gibdad  de  Cor- 
doba testigo  presentado  para  la  dicha  yn- 
formagion,  abiendo  jurado  en  forma  de 
derecho,  dixo  lo  siguiente: 

A  la  primera  pregunta,  dixo  que  conosge 
a  el  dicho  Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega  e  que 
sera  de  hedad  de  veynte  e  ginco  anos,  poco 
mas  o  menos,  e  ques  natural  de  la  gibdad 
de  Toledo  e  que  hes  hi  jo  legitimo  de  don 
Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega,  comendador  mayor 
que  fue  de  Leon  e  senor  de  Batres  e  Cuerva, 
e  de  Sancha  de  Guzman  su  muger,  a  los 
quales  este  testigo  conosgio.  Fue  pregun- 
tado  sy  conosgio  al  padre   e  a   la   madre 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

436 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

del  dicho  don  Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega  e  al 
padre  e  a  la  madre  de  la  dicha  dona  Sancha, 
padre  e   madre  del   dicho   Garcia   Laso 
de  la  Vega;  dixo  que  conosgio  a  Pero 
Suarez  de  Figueroa  e  a  dona  Blanca  su 
muger,    padre    e    madre    del    dicho    don 
Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega,  el  qual  dicho  Pero 
Suarez  hera  hermano  del  conde  de  Feria 
vie  jo  e  que  al  padre  e  a  la  madre  de  la  dicha 
dona  Sancha  no  los  conosgio,  mas  de  los 
oyr  dezir  e  que  el  padre  de  la  dicha  dona 
Sancha   se   llamava   [blank]    de   Guzman, 
senor  de  Batres  e  de  otros  vasallos  e  que 
la  muger  del  dicho  [blank]  de  Guzman  no 
sabe  como  se  llamava,  mas  de  oyr  dezir 
que  hera  de  muy  buen  linaje.     Fue  pre- 
guntado  sy  hes  pariente  del  dicho  Garcia 
Laso.     Dixo  que  no,  e  que  sera  de  hedad 
de  Ix  anos. 

A  la  segunda  pregunta,  dixo  que  sabe  y 
hes  publico  e  notorio  que  el  dicho  don 
Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega  e  los  dichos  don 
Garcia  Laso  de  la  Vega  e  dona  Sancha  de 
Guzman   su   muger,    padre   e   madre   del 
dicho  Garcia  Laso,  e  los  dichos  sus  avuelos 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS     '     437 


e  avuelas  fueron  e  son  avidos  e  tenidos  e 
comimmente  rreputados  por  honbres  hijos- 
dalgo  e  de  linpia  e  noble  sangre,  syn 
yntervenir  rraga  ninguna  de  converso  ni 
moro  ni  de  otra  cosa,  e  por  tales  este  tes- 
tigo  los  tuvo  e  tiene. 

A  la  tercera  pregunta,  dixo  que  sabe  que 
el  dicho  Garcia  Laso  tiene  cevales  e  cava- 
llos  e  los  puede  bien  tener. 

A  la  quarta  pregunta,  dixo  que  no  sabe 
que  el  dicho  Garcia  Laso  aya  sido  rrieptado 
e  que  si  lo  oviera  seydo,  este  testigo  lo 
oviera  sabido  o  oydo  e  questo  sabe  del  I 
caso.  E  firmolo  de  su  nombre.  Pero 
Abrera. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


438 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

APPENDIX  B 

LETTER  OF  DEDICATION  FROM  SCIPIONE 
CAPECE  TO  GARCILASO 

(Donati  in  libros  duodecim  Aeneidos  quae  antea  deside- 
rabatur  absoluta  interpretatio.    Impressum  Neapoli  per 
loannem  Sulzbacchium  &  Matthiam  Cancer  quarto  Idus 
Novembris  Anno  Domini  M.  D.  XXXV.    f.  [2]  v°.) 

Scipio  Capycius  Garcilasso  viro  clariss. 
S. 

Donati  comentarios  in  Virgilianam  Aenei- 
da,  qui  ex  Pontani  bibliotheca  in  manus 
nostras  devenerant,  omnes  quidem  eruditi 
mira  cupiditate  invulgandos  impressione 
semper  expetivemnt.  Postea  vero  quam 
tu  mihi,  Garcilasse  illustris  at  que  doctis- 
sime,  id  fieri  suasisti,  nihil  cunctandum 
in  ea  re  censui,  doctis  omnibus  ratus  quam 
maxime  placiturum  quod  gravi  tuo  fuis- 
set  singularique  iudicio  probatum.  Itaque 
volumen  ilico  imprimendum  tradidi  tuo 
iussu;  curanteque  Paulo  Flavio  erudito 
iuvene  tuique  ac  nostri  studiosissimo  brevi 
absoluta  impressio  est,  opere  in  multa 
volumina  ecscripto  (!),  ad  communem 
studiosorum  omnium  utilitatem  ex  tua 
sententia.     Vale. 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


439 


LIST  OF  WORKS  CONSULTED 

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1839-55-     14  V. 
Alonso  Getino,  Luis  G.    Vida  y  procesos 

del  maestro  Fr,   Luis  de  Leon.     Sala- 
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der.      Barcelona,    1891.       {in   Espana: 

sus  monumentos  y  artes,  etc.) 
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nova.     2a  ed.     Matriti,  1783-88.     2  v. 
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del  Andaluzia.     Sevilla,  1588. 
Armstrong,  Edward.  The  emperor  Charles 

V.    London,  1902.     2  v. 
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notas.    Madrid,  1765. 
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etc.,  Ill,  B.  A.  E.,  LXX) 


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BoNiLLA  Y  San  Martin,  Adolfo,  ed.  Oda 
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Bos  CAN,  Juan.  Las  obras  .  .  .  y  algu- 
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Poetas   liricos   de   los  siglos  XVI  y 

XVII.  Madrid,   1854.    2  v.    (B.  A.  E., 
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LIFE     AND      WORKS 

441 

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la  France  dans  le  Levant.    Paris,  1848-60. 

4  V.    (Doc.  ined.  sur  I'histoire  de  France) 
Cienfuegos,  Alvaro.     La  heroyca  vida, 

virtudes  y  milagros  del  grande  S.  Fran- 
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Clemen cix,   Diego.     Elogio  de  la  Reina 

Catolica    doiia    Isabel,    al    que    siguen 

varias    ilustraciones    sobre    su    reinado. 

Madrid,    182 1.      (Memorias    de    la    R. 

Acad,  de  la  Historia,  VI) 
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dAdrien  VI,  publ.  par  M.  Gachard.  Bru- 

xelles,  etc.,  1859. 
Correspondenz  des  Kaisers  Karl  V,  mit- 

getheilt  von.  K.  Lanz.  Leipzig,  1844-46. 

3  V. 
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Cronica  de  Pedro  I.  (in  Rosell,  Croni- 
cas,  etc.,  II,  B.  A.  E.,  LXVI) 

Dan  VILA  Y  CoLLADO,  Manuel.  Historia 
critica  y  documentada  de  las  Comunida- 
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Decrue,  Francis.  Anne  de  Montmoren- 
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DuRAN,  Agustin,  ed.  Romancero  general. 
Madrid,  1859-61.  2  v.  (B.  A.  E.,  X, 
XVI) 

Enriquez  de  Guzman,  Alfonso.  Libro 
de  la  vida  y  costumbres.  Madrid,  1886. 
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Enriquez  del  Castillo,  Diego.  Cronica 
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HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

443 

Fernandez  de   Navarrete,  Eustaquio. 

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XVI,  1-292) 
Fernandez  de  Oviedo  y  V^aldes,  Gon- 

ZALO.  Libro  de  la  Camara  Real  del  prin- 

cipe  don   Juan.     Madrid,   1870.      (Bi- 

bliofilos  espaiioles) 
Relacion  de  lo  sucedido  en  la  pri- 

sion  del  rey  de  Francia.     {in  Doc.  ined., 

XXXVIII,  404-530) 
Ferrer  del  Rio,  Antonio.     Historia  del 

levantamiento  de  las   Comunidades  de 

Castilla.     Madrid,  1850. 
Flamini,    Francesco.      11    Cinquecento. 

Milano,  [1902]. 
FoNTANus,    Iacobus.      Dc   bcUo   Rhodio. 

{in  Schardius  redi vi vus ,  II,  88-121) 
Foulche-Delbosc,   Raymond,   ed.     Can- 

cionero  castellano  del  siglo  XV.    Madrid, 

191 2-15.  2  V.     (Nueva  B.  A.  E.,  XIX, 

XXII) 
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universidades  en  Espana.  Madrid,  1884- 

89.    4  V 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

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y  curiosos.    Madrid,  1863-89.    4  v. 

Garcia  Cerezeda,  Martin.  Tratadode 
las  campanas  y  otros  acontecimientos  de 
los  ejercitos  del  emperador  Carlos  V.  .  . 
desde  1521  hasta  1545.  Madrid,  1873- 
76.    3  V. 

GiANNONE,  PiETRO.  Dell'istoria  civile  del 
regno  di  Napoli  libri  XL.  Napoli,  1723. 
4V. 

Giovio,  Paolo.  [Historia  general]  ana- 
dido  con  doze  libros  que  hasta  agora  fal- 
taban,  traduzido  por  Caspar  de  Baega. 
Granada,  1566.     2  pts. 

Gomez  de  Castro,  Alvar.  De  rebus  gestis 
a  Francisco  Ximenio  libri  III.  (in 
Schottus,  Hispaniae  illustratae,  I,  927- 
1156) 

HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND      WORKS 


445 


Haebler,    K0XR.A.D.      Bibliografia  iberica 

del  siglo  XV.    La  Haya  &  Leipzig,  1903. 
Herrera,   Fernando  de,   ed.     Obras  de 

Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  con  anotaciones. 

Sevilla,  1580. 
Hume,  Martin  A.  S.    Spain:  its  greatness 

and  decay.     Cambridge,  1905. 
Illescas,  Gonzalo  de.     Jornada  de  Car- 
los V  a  Tiinez.    {in  Rosell,  Historiadores, 

etc.,  I,  B.  A.  E.,  XXI) 
Itineraire  de    Charles-Quint   de    1506  a 

1 53 1.       {in    Gachard,     Collection    des 

voyages,  etc.,  II,  1-50) 
Le    Journal    d'un   bourgeois    de    Paris 

(15 1 5-1 536),  ed.  V.-L.  Bourrilly.   Paris, 

1910. 
JusTi,   Karl.     Ein  Bildnis  des   Dichters 

Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,     {in  Jahrbuch  der 

k.    preuss.    Kunstsammlungen,    XIV 

(1893),  177-90) 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,    (m   Espana 

modema,  t.  310  (oct.  1914))  135-150) 
Latour,  Antoine  de.    Tolede  et  les  bords 

du  Tage.    Paris,  i860. 
Lauren ciN,   Marques  de.     Document os 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


446 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

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la  Vega.     Madrid,  191 5.     (Bol.  de  la  R. 

Acad,  de  la  Hist.  Numero  extraordinario) 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  y  su  retrato, 

Madrid,  1914. 
LeGlay,    Andre    Joseph    Ghislain,    ed. 

Negociations     diplomatiques     entre     la 

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(Collection  de  doc.  ined.,  i^^  serie) 
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Lopez    de    Haro,    Alfonso.      Nobiliario 

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Paz  y  Melia.     Madrid,  1885-86.     2  v. 
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Mejia,  Pedro.    Relacion  de  las  Comuni- 

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HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 


447 


inedita  de  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  y  tres 
poesias  a  el  dedicadas  por  Cosimo  Anisio. 
{in  Revista  de  historia  y  literatura,  etc., 
Ill  (1898),  362-8) 

Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Marcelino.  Bi- 
bliografia  hispano-latina  clasica.  Tomo  I. 
Madrid,  1902.     (No  more  published.) 

Juan  Boscan,  estudio  critico.  Ma- 
drid, 1908.  (Antologia  de  poetas  liricos 
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Mesonero  Romanos,  Ramon  de,  ed.  Dra- 
maticos  posteriores  a  Lope  de  Vega. 
Madrid,  1858-59.  2  v.  (B.  A.  E.,  XLVII, 
XLIX) 

MiGNET,  FRANgois  AuGUSTE  Marie.  Ri- 
valite  de  Francois  P''  et  de  Charles- 
Quint.    Paris,  1875.     2  V. 

Morales,  Ambrosio  de.  Discurso  de  la 
verdadera  descendencia  del  glorioso 
doctor  Santo  Domingo,  {in  Ocampo, 
Coronica  general  de  Espana.  Madrid, 
1791-92,  X) 

MoREAu,  Sebastien.  La  prinse  et  deli- 
vrance  du  Roy,  venue  de  la  Royne,  seiu" 
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AND    MONOGRAPHS 


448 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

(Archives  curieuses  de  I'histoire  de 
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Navarro  Tomas,  Tomas,  ed.  Garcilaso. 
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Paetow,  Louis  John.  The  Arts  Course  at 
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1910. 

Palencia,  Alonso  de.  Cronica  de  Enri- 
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translation  of  his  "Guerra  de  Granada.") 

Perez  Pastor,  Cristobal.  La  imprenta 
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PiFERRER,  Francisco.  Nobiliario  de  los 
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Prescott,  William  Hickling.  History  of 
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HISPANIC    NOTES 

1 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

449 

PuLGAR,  Hernando  del.     Claros  varones 
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Cronica  de  Fernando  e  Isabel,     {in 

Rosell,  Cronicas,  etc.,  Ill,  BAA.E.,  LXX) 

Ranke,  Leopold.  L'Espagne  sous  Charies- 

Quint,  Philippe  II,    &  Philippe  III,  tr. 

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Robertson,    William.      History    of    the 

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1903-5) 
Rosell,  Cayetano,  ed.     Cronicas  de  los 
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Historiadores    de    sucesos    particu- 

lares.    Madrid,  1858-63.    2  v.    (B.  A.  E., 
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Rosso,  Gregorio.     Historia  delle  cose  di 
Napoli  sotto  I'imperio  di  Carlo  Quinto, 
cominciando   dall'anno    1526  per  insino 
all 'anno  1537.     NapoH,  1635. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

450 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Sa  de  Miranda,  Francisco  de.  Poesias; 
edigao  acompanhada  de  um  estudo  sobre 
0  poeta,  variantes,  etc.,  por  Carolina 
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Salva  y  M ALLEN,  Pedro.  Catalogo  de  la 
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2  V. 

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1574- 
Sanchez,   Jose  Rogerio,  ed.     Boscan  y 

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Madrid,  1916.   (Antologia  de  poetas  liri- 

cos  castellanos,  XIV) 
Sandoval,  Prudencio  de.     Historia  de  la 

vida  y  hechos  del  emperador  Carlos  V. 

Amberes,  1681.     2  v. 
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HISPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE     AND     WORKS 

451 

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ScHOTTUS,  Andreas,  ed.  Hispaniae  bi- 
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1608. 

Hispaniae  illustratae,  seu  Rerum  urbi- 

umque   Hispaniae,  etc.,    scriptores  varii. 
Francofurti,  1603-8.     4  v. 

Sepulveda,  Juan  Gines.  Opera.  Ma- 
triti,  1780.    4  V. 

Sosa,  Geronimo  de.  Noticia  de  la  gran 
casa  de  los  marqueses  de  Villafranca. 
Napoles,  1676. 

Tamayo  de  Vargas,  Tomas,  ed.  [Obras  de] 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.     Madrid,  1622. 

Ticknor,  George.  History  of  Spanish  liter- 
ature. 3ci  American  ed.,  corrected  and 
enlarged.    Boston,  1863.    3  v. 

Historia  de  la  literatvira  espafiola, 

trad,  con  adiciones  y  not  as  criticas  por 
Pascual  de  Gayangos.  Madrid,  1851-56. 
4  V. 

Torre,  Antonio  de  la.     La  universidad 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

1 
I 

1 

452 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

de  Alcala;    datos  para  su  historia.     {in 

Revista  de  archives,  etc.,  XX-XXI) 
Valera,  Diego  de.    Memorial  de  diversas 

hazanas.     {in  Rosell,  Cronicas,  etc.,  Ill, 

B.  A.  E.,  LXX) 
Vandenesse,  Jean  de.    Journal  des  voya- 
ges de  Charles-Quint  de   1514  a   1551. 

{in  Gachard,  Collection  des  voyages,  etc., 

II,  51-490) 
Vertot,  L'abbe.     Histoire  des  chevaliers 

Hospitaliers  de   S.    Jean  de   Jerusalem. 

Paris,  1778.     7  V. 
Villeneuve-Bargemon,  Louis  FRANgois. 

Monumens  des  grands-maitres  dd'Ordre 

de    Saint- Jean    de    Jerusalem.      Paris, 

1829.     2  V. 
ViNAZA,   CoNDE   DE   LA.     BibHotcca  his- 

torica  de  la  filologia  castellana.    Madrid, 

1893. 

WiFFEN,  Jeremiah  Holme,  tr.  The  works 
of  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  with  a  critical 
and  historical  essay  on  Spanish  poetry 
and  a  life  of  the  author.    London,  1823. 

Woodward,  William  Harrison.  Vitto- 
rino  da  Feltre  and  other  humanist  educa- 

HI  SPANIC    NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

453 

tors:    essays  and  versions.     Cambridge, 

1897. 
Zapata,  Luis.     Carlo  famoso.     Valencia, 
1566. 

Miscelanea.       {in    Memorial    hist. 

esp.,  XI) 

ZiNKEISEN,  JOHANN  WiLHELM.    Geschichte 

des    osmanischen    Reiches    in    Europa. 
Hamburg,  etc.,  1840-63.     7  v. 
ZuNiGA,  Francesillo  de.     Cronica.     {in 
Castro,     Curiosidades,    etc.,    pp.     9-54, 
B.  A.  E.,  XXXVI) 

Epistolario.     {in  id.  pp.  55-62) 

ZuRiTA,  Geronimo.   Analcs  de  la  corona 

de  Aragon.    Zaragoza,  1669-71.     7  v. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

LIFE    AND     WORKS 


NOTES 

2,1  Lettera  seconda,  and  Viaggio  in 
Ispagna  {in  Opera  omnia,  pp.  268,  315.) 

3.1.  Vida,  12. 

3.2.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  16. 

3.3.  Id.,  14-15. 

3.4.  See  pp.  64-67. 

4.1.  Archivo  historico  nacional.  Ordenes 
militares.  Santiago.  Pruebas  de  nobleza. 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  y  de  Guzman.  1523. 
N°.  8613.    Cf.  Appendix  A. 

4.2.  Id.,  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  y  Zuniga. 
1543.    No.  8634. 

4.3.  See  Note  78,2.. 

5,1.  If  the  phrase  used  by  Garcilaso,  "en 
mi  perfeta  edad"  (Son.  XXVIII.  9),  is  a 
reference  to  the  generally  accepted  theory 
that  the  crowning  point  of  Life  is  reached  at 
the  age  of  thirty-five,  then  his  birth  cannot 
have  been  later  than  1501.  It  is  possible  that 
he  has  in  mind  the  expression  of  Dante.  "E  10 
credo  che  nelh  perfettamente  naturati  esso  [il 
punto  sommo  dell'Arco  della  vita]  ne  sia  nel 
trentacinquesimo  anno"  (Convivio,  IV,  23.) 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


455 


456 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

5,2.     The  principal  accounts  of  Garcilaso's 
family  are  those  of  Gonzalo  Fernandez  de 
Oviedo  and  Argote  de  Molina.    Oviedo's  ac- 
count is  found  in  his  Ms.   Batallas  y  quin- 
cuagenas  (in  the  Academia  de  la  Historia  of 
Madrid,  12-2 1-5,  N°.  96,  ff.  417  r°-422  v°) 
under  the  title,  "El  muy  magnifico  senor  Gar- 
cilaso  de  la  Vega".     The  Ms.,  which  is  in- 
titled  "Libro  que  trata  del  blason  de  todas  las 
armas  e  diferencias  dellas,"  is  described  by 
Clemencin    (Elogio,    220-235).     There   is   a 
copy  in  the  Boston  Public  Library  (3090.8). 
On  the  relations  of  this  work  to  the  Quin- 
quagenas  of  the  same  author,  see  the  introduc- 
tion of  Vicente  de  la  Fuente  to  the  edition  of 
the   Quinquagenas,    Madrid,    1880.      Vol.    I. 
Argote  de  Molina  in  his  Nobleza  del  Anda- 
luzia,   Sevilla,    1588,  f.  335  r°-v°,  traces  the 
family  down  to  the  Marquis  of  Santi liana. 
He  mentions  four  generations  prior  to  the 
first  Garci-Lasso  de  la  Vega:    Diego  Gomez 
de  la  Vega,  Ruy  Diaz  de  la  Vega,  Gonzalo 
Ruiz  de  la  Vega  (cf.  Zurita,  I,  169  v°),  and 
Pero  Lasso  de  la  Vega,  Almirante  de  Castilla. 
On  the  doubtful  nature  of  this  last  title,  see 
Angel  de  los  Rios  y  Rios,  Ensayo  hist6rico 
.8.  .  sobre  los  apelhdos  castellanos,  Madrid, 

HI  SPANI C  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

457 

1 87 1,  p.  189.  For  the  possible  origin  of  the 
name  Lasso,  see  Rios  y  Rios,  op.  cit.  and 
Rodrigo  Amador  de  los  Rios,  Santander.  Bar- 
celona, 1891,  p.  638.  Navarrete  (Vida,  10-12, 
137-140.  275)  and  Piferrer  (Xobiliario,  II, 
242-244)  give  a  summary  of  the  matter. 

5,3.  On  this  first  Garcilaso,  cf.  Femdndez 
de  Oviedo,  Batallas,  ms.  cit,,  418  v°-4i9  r®; 
Cronica  de  Alfonso  XI  (in  B.  A.  E.  LXVI), 
pp.  185-86,  188,  193-96,  198-99,  210-11; 
Zm-ita,  II,  68;  Mariana,  IV,  91,  99,  101-2, 
106-7. 

6,1,  On  the  second  Garcilaso,  cf.  Fer- 
nandez de  Oviedo,  ms.  cit.,  f.  419;  Cronica 
de  Alfonso  XI,  pp.  251-52,  326,  345,  352,  369, 
378,  384;  Cronica  de  Pedro  I  (in  B.  A.  E. 
LXVI),  406,  409,  413-15;  Zurita,  II,  105  r°, 
143  r°;  Poema  de  Alfonso  Onceno  (ed.  F. 
Janer,  Madrid,  1863)  copla  1662;  Mariana, 
IV,  157,  202. 

7,1.  The  Marquis  of  Santillana  mentions 
his  grandmother.  Dona  ^Mencia  Cisneros,  in 
his  Prohemio  (Obras,  ed.  Amador  de  los  Rios, 
Madrid,  1852,  p.  12.)  On  her  daughter. 
Dona  Leonor  de  la  Vega,  see  Amador  de  los 
Rios  in  his  introduction  to  this  edition,  pp. 
x-lviii. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

458 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

8.1.  *  It  is  through  the  Sotomayores  that 
Sa  de  Miranda  traces  his  relationship  to  Gar- 
cilaso.    Cf.    Michaelis  de  Vasconcellos's  edi- 
tion of  his  Poesias,  Halle,  1885,  pp.  378  and 
831-32,  note.     The  point  had  already  been 
noted   by    Theophilo    Braga    in   his   Sd   de 
Miranda,  as  it  appeared  in  his  Historia  dos 
Quinhentistas,  1871. 

8.2.  On  Garcilaso,  father  of  the  poet,  up 
to  1492,  cf.  Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  11,  140-41, 
197-99;    Hernando  del  Pulgar,   Cronica  de 
Fernando  e  Isabel   (in  B.  A.  E.   LXX)   pp. 
449-50,  456,  461,  476,  479,  482,   502;    Ber- 
naldez,   Historia   de   Fernando   e   Isabel    (in 
B.  A.  E.  LXX)  p.  633;    Alonso  de  Palencia, 
Guerra  de  Granada,  V,  442;   Lucio  Marineo, 
De  rebus"  Hi spaniae  memorabilibus  (in  Schot- 
tus,   Hispaniae  illustratae,   I,   498);    Zurita, 
IV,  354  v°;   Prescott,  I,  298-300. 

1 1,1.  Duran,  Cancionero  general,  Nos. 
1 1 15-23,  II,  124-29.  A  later,  popular  version. 
No.  1300,  II,  315-17.  The  exploit  of  Pulgar 
is  an  historical  event;  cf.  Menendez  y  Pelayo, 
in  Lope  de  Vega,  Obras,  XI,  xhx-1. 

12,1.  In  his  Obras,  ed.  R.  Academia  Es- 
panola,  XI,  209-28.  There  is  a  later  version 
by  Lope,  entitled  "El  cerco  de  Santa  Fe  e 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

459 

ilustre    hazana    de    Garcilaso    de    la    Vega" 
(Obras,  XI,  231-58).     On  the  dates,  cf.  the 
introduction  of  this  volume,  pp.   xli,   xlviii. 
Another  and  later  version,  by  another  author, 
called  "El  triunfo  de  Ave-Maria"  (in  Meso- 
nero  Romanos,  Dramaticos  posteriores  a  Lope 
de  Vega,   II,    173-94)   is  still  performed  at 
Granada  on  the  anniversary  of  the  conquest 
of  the  city,  January  2.    Cf.  the  introduction 
to  this  volume  of  the  Dramaticos  posteriores, 
p.  xiii,  and  Lope  de  Vega,  Obras,  XI,  Ivii. 

12.2.  See  p.  8. 

12.3.  I,   224,   283-84.     Cf.  also  Enrlquez 
del  Castillo,  Cronica  del  rey  don  Enrique  IV 
(in  B.  A.  E.,  LXX),  p.  107;  Diego  de  Valera, 
Memorial  de  diversas  hazafias  (in  B.  A.  E., 
LXX),  p.  5. 

12.4.  Cancionero,    I,    103-115.      On    the 
dates  and  the  family,  cf.  the  notes,  II,  347-48. 
Diego  de  Burgos  mentions  this  Garcilaso  in 
his  Triunfo  del  marques  de  Santillana  (in  R. 
Foulche-Delbosc,    Cancionero   castellano   del 
siglo  XV,  II,  544)  and  Hernando  del  Pulgar 
treats  of  him  in  his  Claros  varones,  Titulo  XV. 
The   Garcilaso   who   received   a   grant   from 
Enrique  IV  in  1471  (cf.  Navarrete,  Vida,  pp. 
197-98)  is  probably  the  son  of  this  Garcilaso. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

460 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

In  the  Real  Armeria  in  Madrid  there  is  a 
sword   blade   which  bears   on   one   side   the 
words  ''Garcilaso  de  la  Vega.     1472",  and  on 
the  other,  ''El  que  mato  el  moro  en  campo. 
This  blade  probably  belonged  to  the  hero  of 
the  Vega  of  Malaga;  the  date  may  have  been 
added  by  his  son.    For  a  discussion  of  other 
possible  owners,  cf.  Marchesi,  Catalogo  de  la 
Real  Armeria,   Madrid,    1849,   pp.    11 3-1 17. 
Menendez  y  Pelayo  identifies  the  Garcilaso 
of  the  romances  as  the  hero  of  Malaga.    (Lope 
de  Vega,  Obras,  XI,  xliii.) 

13,1.     Cf.  for  example,  Argote  de  Mohna, 
op.  cit.  203  v°-204  r°.    Fernandez  de  Oviedo 
expressly  denies  the  story  and  says  that  the 
family  always  was    "de  la  Vega"   and  had 
"Ave  Maria"  as  its  device.     (Batallas,  ms. 
cit.  f.  419  v°)    Cf.  also  Ticknor,  I,  447,  note 

14.1.  On  Garcilaso  as  an  ambassador,  cf. 
Zurita,  V,  ff.  34,  116,  141  v°,  163  v°,  169  r°; 
Sanuto,  I,  6,  202,  465,  555,  654;  II,  113,  531, 
552,  912;  Prescott,  II,  19,  23,  47,  50,  80,  151- 
53;  Mariana,  VI,  324,  389,  394. 

14.2.  Navarrete,  Vida,  p.  199. 

15,1.     On   Garcilaso   from    1 500-1 506,    cf. 
Zurita,  V,  249  v°,  VI,  8  v°,  64  v°;  Navarrete, 

HI  SPANI C  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

461 

Vida,    pp.     199-200;     Galindez    Caravajal, 
Anales    breves    (in    Doc.    in^d.,    XVIII,)    p. 
307;   Mariana,  VII,  80,  87.    There  is  another 
version  of  the  meeting  of  Fernando  and  Gar- 
cilaso,    in    which    Garcilaso    plays    the    role 
usually  assigned  to  the  Count  of  Benavente. 
Cf.  Alvar  Gomez  de  Castro,  De  rebus  gestis 
Francisci    Ximenii    libri    III    (in    Schottus, 
Hispam'ae  iUustratae,  I,  990);    Prescott,  II, 
279.     Bernaldez   (op.  cit.  p.   726)   does  not 
mention  Garcilaso. 

16.1.  On  Garcilaso  from  1506  to  15 12,  cf. 
Navarrete,    Vida,    200;     Bernaldez,    p.    727; 
Prescott,  II,  306;    Mariana,  VII,  107. 

16.2.  On  the  family  of  Dona  Sancha,  cf. 
Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  142-47,  277,  279.    For 
the  origin  of  the  Guzmanes,  see  Ambrosio  de 
Morales,   Discurso  de  la  verdadera  descen- 
dencia  del  glorioso  doctor  Santo  Domingo  (in 
Ocampo,  Coronica  general  deEspafia,  Vol.X.) 

16.3.  P.  141- 

18.1.  Id.,  pp.  140-41. 

18.2.  Son.  XVL 

19.1.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  14. 

19.2.  Vida,    p.    13.      His   brother,    Pedro 
Laso,  as  heir  to  the  estate  was  brought  up  at 
the  Court  and  was  a  pupil  of  Peter  Martyr. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

462 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Cf.  his  Opus  epistolarum,  Epist.  DCCIX,  p. 
396:    "Vetere  familiaritate  cum  Don  Petro 
Lasso  a  Vega  ob  consuetudinem  apud  me, 
cum  sugeret  una  cum  proceribus  regnorum 
ubera  mea  IJteralia,  fretus." 

20,1.     Madrid,  1870  (Bibliofilos  espanoles, 
VII.) 

21.1.  In  E.  Alberi,  Relazioni  degli  amba- 
sciatori  veneti  al  Senato  (Firenze,  1839-55. 
14  vols.)    Serie  I^,  II,  205.    See  also  Ranke, 
L'Espagne  sous  Charles-Quint,  p.  155. 

21.2.  Batallas,  ms.  cit.  f.  420  v°. 

21.3.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  14. 

22.1.  There  is  no  adequate  study  of  the 
beginnings  of  humanistic   studies  in   Spain. 
Cf.  however  Clemencin,  Ensayo  sobre  el  siglo 
hterario  de  la  reina  dona  Isabel  (Ilustracion 
XVI  in  his  Elogio,  pp.  394-429,)  andPrescott, 
I,  393-408. 

22.2.  Opus  epistolarum,  Epist.  LVII,  pp. 
26-27. 

24.1.  Id.,  Epist.  CXV,  p.  65. 

24.2.  Clemencin,  Elogio,  p.  399. 

25.1.  Id.,   p.   401;    Prescott,   I,   40C-401; 
Lucio     Marineo,     Discurso     (in    Clemencin, 
Elogio,  607.) 

25.2.  I,  400. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND     WORKS 

463 

25,3.     Vicente  de  la  Fuente,  Historia  de 
las  universidades  en  Espana  (Madrid,  1884- 
89.     4  vols.)  II,  104-105. 

26.1.  Peter    Martyr,    Opus    epistolarum, 
Epist.  CCCLXXV,  p.  200.    For  his  dates,  cf. 
Antonio,  Bibliotheca  nova,  I,  326-27;  Fuente, 
II,    106;     Gomez    de    Castro    {in    Sehottus, 
Hispaniae  illustratae,  I,  1141.) 

26.2.  In  his  Discurso  {in  Clemencin,  Elo- 
gio,  p.  609.)     The  misprint  "Cirillo"  is  cor- 
rected to  "Citillo"  on  p.  611. 

26.3.  Gallardo,  Ensayo,  III,  73;  IV,  loio, 
1012. 

27.1.  Bibliotheca  nova,  I,  58. 

27.2.  Antonio,  op.  cit.,  I,  765;    Gomez  de 
Castro,  loc.  cit. 

27.3.  On  the  subjects  studied  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  cf.    P.  Abelson,  The  Seven  Liberal 
Arts,  New  York,  1906,  and  L.  J.  Paetow,  The 
Arts  course  at  medieval  universities.  Cham- 
paign (111.),  19 10. 

28,1.     Abelson,  p.  35,  note  i. 

30,1.  On  humanistic  education,  cf.  W.  H. 
Woodward,  Vittorino  da  Feltre  and  other 
humanist  educators,  Cambridge,  1897. 

31,1.  Clemencin,  pp.  456,  467-  Editions 
of  the  Dodrinale  were  printed  at  Barcelona 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

464 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

in  1495  and  1499.  Cf.  Haebler,  Nos.  684-85. 

31,2.     Haebler,  No.  543. 

31,3.     Id.,  Nos.  459-65- 

31,4.     Haebler  (Nos.  187-88)  mentions  two 

editions  "ca.  1480".    There  are  two  later  edi- 

tions (Nos.  189-90.) 

31,5.     Id.,  No.  510. 

31,6.     Id.,  Nos.  468-69. 

32,1.     Clemencin,  Elogio,  pp.  471-72. 

32,2.     Haebler,  No.  670. 

32,3.     InRevistadeArchivos,etc.,  3^epoca, 

IX,  56-66.  I  am  preparing  a  study  of  the 

relations  of   Lebrija's  treatise  to  the  ItaUan 

educational  tracts. 

33,1.     Haebler,  Nos.  3-5,  138-140,  272-73, 

358-62,  634. 

33,2.     Catalina  Garcia,  Ensayo,  No.  70. 

33,3.     Haebler,  No.  485. 

33,4.     Id.,  No.  400. 

34,1.     Id.,  Nos.  593,  112. 

35,1.     Id.,  Nos.  402,  506,  693-4. 

35,2.     Escudero  y  Perosso,  No.  129. 

35,3.     Gallardo,     IV,     113 1-2;      Catahna 

Garcia,  No.  62. 

35,4.     Men^ndez  y  Pelayo,  BibUografla  his- 

pano-latina  cldsica,  1,528;  Catahna  Garcia, 

No.  61. 

HI  SPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND     WORKS 

465 

35.5.  Salva,  I,  527  (under  No.  1449.) 

35.6.  Clemencin,  Elogio.  pp.  470-1. 

36.1.  Cited  by  the  Conde  de  la  Viiiaza  in 
his  Biblioteca  historica  de  la  filologia  caste- 
liana,  Madrid,  1893,  col.  22. 

36.2.  Opus  epistolarum,  Epist.  CCXLVI. 
p.  139- 

37,1.     Laurencin,  Documentos,  p.  133. 

38.1.  Catahna  Garcia,  Xos.  17-18, 

38.2.  Haebler,  No.  470. 

38.3.  Fontanini-Zeno,  I,  5. 

38.4.  Brunet,  III,  col.  1578. 

39.1.  Lebrija  in  his  preface  says  that  the 
time  is  opportune  for  his  work  "por  estar  la 
nuestra  lengua  tato  en  la  cumbre  que  mas  se 
puede  temer  el  decendimiento  della  que  es- 
perar  la  subida."    (Reproduction  of  the  ediiio 
princeps  by  E.  Walberg,  Halle  a.  S.,  1909,  f. 
a  iiii  r°.) 

39.2.  There  is  corroboration  of  the  use  of 
the  Disticha  Catonis  and  of  Sallust  as  elemen- 
tary- texts  in  two  references  from  Francesillo 
de  Ziiniga  (cited  by  Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Juan 
Boscan,  pp.  47-8),  one  in  which  he  speaks  of 
Fray    Severo    as    "mostrador    de    Caton    y 
Terencio  a  los  m'etos  del  Duque  de  Alba" 
(Cronica,  p.  28)  and  the  other  in  his  anecdote 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

466 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

of  Fray  Severo's  falling  into  the  Duero  and 
exclaiming,  "Oh  infelice  Marques  de  Mantua 
y  nietos  del  Duque  de  Alba,  ya  quedareis  sin 
el  Salustio  Catilinario."  (Epistolario,  p.  59). 
It  must  be  remembered  that  the  first  Latin 
text  of  Terence  printed  in  Spain  was  of  1524. 

40,1.     Cf.  Note,  19,2. 

42,1.  On  Charles  V's  first  visit  to  Spain, 
cf.  Armstrong,  I,  25-42. 

43,1.  Sandoval,  I,  151;  P.  Mejia  (in 
B.  A.  E.  XXI,  372.) 

44.1.  Navarrete,  pp.  201-2. 

44.2.  Sandoval,  I,  156. 

44.3.  Id.,  I,  157.    Lib.  V,  Cap.  XXIII  is 
devoted  to  Pedro  Laso. 

44.4.  Id.,  I,  158. 

44.5.  Vandenesse,  Journal,  p.  64. 

45.1.  Navarrete,  p.  203. 

45.2.  Id.,  I.e.;   Sepiilveda,  Opera,  I,  iii; 
Danvila  y  Collado,  IV,  556. 

46.1.  Ferrer  del  Rio,  p.  281. 

46.2.  Vandenesse,  p.  66. 

46.3.  In  Rodriguez  Villa,  El    emperador 
Carlos  V  y  su  Corte  (in  Boletin  de  la  R.  Acad, 
de  la  Hist.,  XLIII,  42.) 

47,1.     The  principal  sources  for  the  story 
of  the  siege  of  Rhodes  are:   Vertot,  Histoire 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

467 

des  Chevaliers  Hospitallers  de   S.    Jean  de 
Jerusalem,  III,  237-317  (he  used  the  works 
of  Jacques  de  Bourbon  and  Giacomo  Bosio); 
Fontanus,     De     bello     Rhodio;      Charriere, 
Negociations  de  la  France   dans  le   Levant, 
Vol.    I,    passim;     the   volumes   of    Sanuto's 
Diarii   covering    1522    and    1523    (XXXIII- 
XXXIV);     Zinkeisen,    Geschichte    des    os- 
manischen  Reiches  in  Europa,  II,  621-32. 

47,2.     Sanuto,  XXXIII,  398-9;  Charriere, 
I.  91-2. 

48.1.  Correspondance  de  Charles-Quint  et 
d'Adrien  VI,  publ.  par  M.  Gachard.  pp.  loo-i. 

48.2.  Correspondenz  des  Kai-sers  Karl  V, 
I,  66-8. 

48.3.  Rodriguez    Villa,    in    Boletin,    etc., 
XLIII,  47. 

49.1.  For  a  discussion  of  this  conflict,  cf. 
Galindez  Carvajal,   .\nales  breves   (in  Doc. 
ined.  XVIII,  391-6-) 

49.2.  Zapata,  Carlo  famoso.  f.  67  v*  (cited 
by  Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Juan  Boscan,  p.  39); 
Rodriguez  ViUa,  Boletin,  etc.,  XLIII,  55. 

49.3.  On    Pedro    de    Toledo,     cf.     Sosa, 
Xoticia  de  la  gran  casa  de  los  Marqueses  de 
ViUafranca,   Xapoles,    1676;    Giannone,   IV, 
45-7- 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

468 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

50.1.  On  Bosc^n,  cf.  Menendez  y  Pelayo, 
Juan  Boscan,  esp.  pp.  54-5. 

50.2.  Rodriguez      Villa,      Boletin,      etc., 
XLIII,  55- 

50.3.  Vertot,    III,    332.      Zapata     (1.  c.) 
states  that  they  sailed  from  Barcelona,  but 
Alonso  Enriquez  (Libro  de  la  vida  y  costum- 
bres,  p.  31)  also  gives  Cartagena  as  the  port 
of  departure. 

52.1.  Vertot,    III,    332-3;     Fontanus    (in 
Schardius  redivivus,  II,  120);   Sanuto,  XXX- 
III>  535>  548,  581,  603;    Correspondance  de 
Charles-Quint  et  d'Adrien  VI,  p.  134. 

52.2.  Sanuto,  XXXIV,  89-90. 

53,1.     Id.,  XXXIII,  600-1,  615;  XXXIV, 
282;  Vertot,  III,  327-9. 
54,1.     Vertot,  III,  330-8. 

55.1.  Rodriguez    Villa,    in    Boletin,    etc. 
XLIII,  139. 

55.2.  Cf.  p.  58. 

56,1.  Peter  Martyr,  Opus  epistolarum, 
Epist.  DCCLXXI,  p.  448;  Rodriguez  Villa 
in  Boletin,  etc.,  XLIII,  66;  Danvila  y  Col- 
lado,  V,  238-51. 

57,1.  Rodriguez  Villa,  in  Boletin,  etc., 
XLIII,  113,  132;  Peter  Martyr,  Epist.  DCC- 
LXXXI,  pp.  456-8. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

469 

57.2.  Rodriguez  Villa,  XLIII,  104;    San- 
doval, I,  426. 

57.3.  Rodriguez  Villa,  XLIII,  137. 

58.1.  Obras  de  Garcilaso,  p.  14. 

58.2.  Rodriguez  Villa,  in  Boletin,  XLIII, 
126-7. 

58.3.  Itineraire,   p.   34.     The    Journal  of 
Vandenesse  (p.  68)  erroneously  says  *'Areos". 

58.4.  Cf.  ms.  cited  in  Note  4,1. 

58.5.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  pp.  43-4. 
59,1,     Itineraire,  p.  34;   Xavarrcte,  p.  205; 

Rodriguez  Villa,  in  Boletin,  XLIII,  132. 

60.1.  Peter  :Martvr,  Epists.  DCCLXXX- 
IV  and  DCCLXXXIX,  pp.  460,  463-4;  Ro- 
driguez Villa,  in  Boletin,  etc.,  XLIII,  131, 136. 

60.2.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  44-5. 

61.1.  Sepulveda,  Opera,  I,   144-5;    Peter 
Martyr,  Epist.  DCCXCI,  pp.  465-6;   Ro- 
driguez Villa,  in  Boletin,  etc.,  XLIII,  139,  143, 

145- 

61.2.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  p.  82. 

61.3.  Sepulveda  (Opera,  I,  147)  says  "ter- 
tio  Kalendas  Martias",  which  would  be  Feb- 
ruary 28th  (1524  was  a  leap-year).     Salinas 
gives,  the  date  as  the  27th  (Rodriguez  Villa, 
in  Boletin,  etc.,  XLIII,   147)  as  does  Peter 
Martyr  (Opus  epistolarum,  p.  468.) 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

470 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

6 1 ,4.     Opus  epistolarum,  Epist.  DCCXCII, 

p.  467- 

62,1.  There  is  a  full  presentation  of  this 
material  in  Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Juan  Boscan, 
PP-  39-54-  Much  that  he  says  is  copied 
verbatim  from  Knapp's  edition  of  the  Obras  of 
Boscan  (Madrid,  1875)  pp.  xi-xiii  and  from  an 
article  by  A.  Salcedo  y  Ruiz,  El  ayo  y  el 
preceptor  del  Gran  Duque  de  Alba  (in 
Revista  de  Archives,  etc.,  3^  ep.  X  (1907), 
370-8.) 

63,1.  Obras  de  Boscdn,  1543,  f.  15  r°. 
FrancesJllo  de  Zuniga  in  his  Epistolario  (in 
B.  A.  E.  XXXVI,  57)  tells  an  anecdote  which 
further  illustrates  the  interest  in  poetry 
showed  by  the  family  of  the  Toledos.  'Tell 
the  Duke  of  Alba,"  he  writes  to  Queen 
Eleanor,  ''that  his  grandson  has  written  me 
half  a  couplet  and  when  the  Marquis  of 
Villafranca  heard  of  it,  he  shouted  to  Boscan, 
'How  much  our  house  of  Alba  is  indebted  to 
you,  for  you  have  m-ade  the  heir  of  the  family 
a  poet! '  " 

64.1.  The  Duke  of  Alba  did  not  accom- 
pany Charles  V  on  his  trip  to  Italy  in  1529 
and  died  in  1531.    Cf.  Sanuto,  LV,  185. 

64.2.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  43. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND     WORKS 


471 


65.1.  Schottus,  Hispaniae  bibliotheca,  p. 

579- 

65.2.  On  the  family  of  Dona  Elena,  see 
Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  150-1,  281. 

65.3.  Navarrete,  Vida,  204-5. 

66,1.     Laurencin,  Documentos,  49-66. 
69,1.     Oviedo,    Relacion    (in    Doc.     ined. 
XXXVIII,  406.) 

70.1.  Id.,  p.  424;  Rodriguez  Villa,  in 
Boletin,  etc.  XLIII,  429,  471,  475. 

70.2.  Oviedo,    Relacion    (in    Doc.    ined., 

XXXVIII,  432-4) 

71,1.  Id.,  pp.  434-44;  Sandoval,  I,  543; 
Champollion-Figeac,  p.  513. 

72.1.  Navagero,  Opera,  pp.  317-20. 
Navagero  left  Toledo  on  the  24th  and  arrived 
at  Seville  on  the  8th.  Queen  Germana  left 
on  the  25th  (Oviedo,  1.  c,  p.  444)  and  was  in 
Seville  with  Isabella  of  Portugal  when  Charles 
V  arrived  (Champollion-Figeac,  p.  51 4)-  On 
the  trip  of  Charles  V,  see  Itineraire,  pp.  38-9. 
On  the  two  ambassadors,  see  Menendez  y 
Pelayo,  Juan  Boscan,  pp.  60-93. 

72.2.  Sandoval,  I,  546  ff.  For  an  account 
of  the  reception,  see  Navagero,  Opera,  p.  326. 

73,1.  Oviedo,  Relacion  (in  Doc.  in^d. 
XXXVIII,  453-8,  462.) 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


472 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


73,2 


Sandoval,  I,  553. 


74.1.  Navagero,  Opera,  281. 

74.2.  Obras,  1543,  Libro  II. 

78.1.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  25,  15-6. 

78.2.  In  his  will  Garcilaso  mentions  three 
sons  born  before  July  25,  1529.  (Laurencin, 
Doc,  p.  75.)  During  these  first  four  years  of 
his  married  life  he  was  undoubtedly  attached 
to  the  Court,  while  his  wife  remained  in 
Toledo.  The  Court  was  estabhshed  at 
Toledo,  during  this  period,  from  August  1525 
to  February  1526,  from  December  23rd  to 
28th,  1526,  and  from  October  13,  1528  to 
March  9,  1529.  Garcilaso  was  also  in  Toledo 
on  March  i,  1528  a't  the  time  of  the  purchase 
of  his  house.  Under  the  circumstances  it  is 
possible  to  assign  fairly  definite  dates  to  the 
birth  of  these  three  children.  On  December 
29,  1537,  his  wife  declared  that  Inigo  was 
then  eight  years  old  and  Pedro  seven  (Lau- 
rencin, Doc,  p.  116).  This  statement  con- 
cerning Pedro  is  plainly  inaccurate,  for  he  was 
born  before  July  25,  1529,  and  if  Inigo  was 
a  year  older,  the  statement  regarding  him 
must  also  be  inaccurate. 

78.3.  Rodriguez  Villa,  in  Boletin,  etc, 
XLIII,    138.      Pedro    Laso   took    refuge   in 


HISPANIC  NOTES 


LIFE    AND     WORKS 


473 


Portugal  and  his  activities  there  were  closely 
watched  by  the  representatives  of  the  Em- 
peror (Danvila  y  CoUado,  V,  496,  501).  He 
was  finally  pardoned,  though  still  exiled  from 
all  Spain  except  the  county  of  Feria.  On  May 
13,  1526  this  exile  was  reduced,  although  he 
was  still  forbidden  to  enter  within  five  leagues 
of  the  Court  or  of  Toledo.  (Id.,  V,  567-8.) 
Even  this  decree  must  have  been  annulled  or 
forgotten,  for  he  was  in  Toledo  on  April  17, 
1 53 1.  His  mother  had  already  bought  back 
for  him  his  estate  of  Los  Arcos  which  had  been 
confiscated  in  1524  (Laurencln,  Doc,  p.  16.) 

79.1.  In  B.  A.  E.,  XXXVI.  53- 

79.2.  Camoens,  Rimas  varias  commen- 
tadas  por  Manuel  de  Faria  y  Sousa,  Lisboa, 
1685-8.  5  pts.  V,  21 1-2.  (Cited  by  C. 
Michaelis  de  Vasconcellos  in  her  edition  of 
the  Poesias  of  Sa  de  Miranda,  p.  833.) 

79.3.  Id.,  p.  820;  Braga,  Sa  de  Miranda, 
1896,  p.  50. 

80.1.  Miscelanea,  p.  384. 

80.2.  Itineraire,  pp.  38-46. 

80.3.  Ff.  82  v°-83  r°. 

80.4.  No.  17969  (Gayangos,  No.  693). 
81,1.     Archivo   historico    Nacional.      Leg. 

X°.  230,  X°  31 17.    I  am  indebted  to  the  late 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


474 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Don  Juan  Menendez  Pidal  for  the  reference. 

82.1.  Poesias,  pp.  43-4. 

82.2.  Sd  de  Miranda,  pp.  18 1-4. 
83,1.     LI.  1 123-4. 

85,1.     Itineraire,  p.  45. 

86.1.  Sandoval,  II,  49. 

86.2.  The    will    has    been    printed    by 
Laiirencin,  Documentos,  pp.  69-83. 

87,1.  As  printed,  the  will  says,  "San  Mar- 
tin", but  his  grandmother's  chapel  was  in  San 
Pedro  Martir  (cf.  id.  p.  33). 

90,1.  Vandenesse,  Journal,  p.  821 ;  Sanuto, 
LI,  288;   Sandoval,  II,  49-50. 

91.1.  Sandoval,  II,  50. 

91.2.  Reproduced  in  Sanuto,  LII,  653-4. 
Sandoval  calls  the  practise  of  wearing  a  beard 
"the  Roman  style".     It  is  noteworthy  that 
Castiglione  is  portrayed  with  a  beard  in  the 
famous  painting  by  Raphael. 

92.1.  For    accounts    of    the    entry    into 
Genoa,  see  Sanuto,  LI,  398-403.    Armstrong 
(I,     190)     quotes    a    description    from    the 
"Cronaca  del  soggiorno  di  Carlo  V  in  Italia, 
ed.  M.  Romano.     Milan,  n.  d." 

92.2.  Sandoval,  II,  20;    Samrto,  LI,  252. 

92.3.  Rodriguez    Villa,    in    Boletin,    etc. 
XLIV,  228-33. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND     WORKS 

475 

92,4.     Vandenesse,    Journal,    85;     Sanuto, 
LII,  142-5,  180-4. 

93,1.     Sanuto,  LII,  350-5. 

94.1.  Sandoval,  II,  57;   Sanuto,  LII,  603- 

19- 

94.2.  Sandoval,  II,  58-61;    Sanuto,  LII, 
628-52. 

95.1.  Sanuto,  LII,  615. 

95.2.  Leti,  La  vie  de  I'empereur  Charles 
V,  I,  376. 

95.3.  Xavarrete,  Vida,  pp.  205-7. 
96,1.     Id.,  26-7. 

97,1.     Sandoval,  II,  28. 

98,1.  Moreau,  pp.  415-51 ;  Le  journal  d'un 
bourgeois  de  Paris,  342-4;  Decrue,  I,  160-2; 
Sandoval,  II,  98-9;    Sanuto,  LIII,  344-5- 

99.1.  Xavarrete,  Vida,  p.  208.    The  opin- 
ion of  Anne  de  Montmorency  concerning  the 
new  queen  is  representative:    "J'ay  trouv6 
principallement  la  royne  .    .   .  autant  saige, 
belle  et  honneste  dame,  et  qui  m'a  tenu  de  si 
bons  et  honnestes  propos  qu'il  ne  seroit  possible 
de  plus."   (Letter  to  Marguerite  d'Autriche, 
Julv   I,  1530,  in  Le  Glav,  Xegociations,  II, 

742O 

99.2.  Calendar  of  State  Papers.     Spanish 
to  1543  (Henry  VIII),  IV,  I,  668. 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

476 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

100.1.  Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  207-8,  28-9. 

100.2.  Le  journal  d'un  bourgeois  de  Paris, 
PP-  345>  352-    The  dates  of  the  royal  progress 
are   based   on   the   Catalogue   des  actes   de 
Frangois  I^^,  I,  718-33  passim. 

101.1.  Hauvette,  Un  exile  florentin  a  la 
cour  de  France  au  XVI^  siecle,  Paris,    1903, 
p.  92. 

101.2.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  p.  16. 

102.1.  Navarrete,  p.  30. 

102.2.  Id.  p.  208. 

103.1.  Sandoval,  II,    109.     The  letter  to 
the  Empress  is  dated  January  17th. 

103.2.  Cf.  Note  64,1. 

104,1.  The  documents  in  the  case  are  to 
be  found  in  Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  208-35. 

109,1.     Lines  1433  ff. 

1 1 1,1.     Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  221-2. 

111,2  On  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
nephew,  see  Navarrete,  pp.  264-70;  Lauren- 
cin, Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  y  su  retrato,  pp. 
12-6;  Archivo  general  de  Simancas.  Catalogo, 
IV,  298;  V,  201.  Dona  Isabel  was  tempor- 
arily placed  in  a  convent  (Navarrete,  pp. 
40-1).  Herrera  (p.  239)  quotes  Antonio  Puer- 
tocarrero  as  saying  that  she  later  became  the 
Countess  of  Santestevan. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND     WORKS  477 


111,3.     Vida.  p.  41. 

113,1.     For  example,  Xos.  Ill  and  IV. 

114.1.  Xavarrete,  p.  222. 

114.2.  Saniito,  LVI,  567,  718,  726,  860, 
902,  930. 

114.3.  Xavarrete,  Vida,  48-9,  235. 

114.4.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  15. 

115.1.  For  example,  Cienfuegos,  II,  II,  50; 
Wiffen,  p.  131-2. 

115.2.  Lines  1505  ff. 

115.3.  Sanuto.  LVII,  115. 

116,1.  Croce,  Intorno  al  soggiorno,  p.  8, 
note  I. 

118.1.  Flamini,  II  Cinquecento.  pp.  loi, 
109;  Minieri-Riccio.  Cenno  storico  delle  Ac- 
cademie  fiorite  in  X'apoli  fin  Archivio  storico 
per  le  prov.  napoletane,  V  (1880),  362-3.) 

118.2.  Id.,  V,  363-4. 

118.3.  Donati  in  libros  duodecim  Aeneidos 
quae  antea  desiderabatur  absoluta  interpreta- 
tio.  Xeapoli,  1535,  f.  2  v°.  Liagno  in  his 
Kritische  Bemerkungen  iiber  kastilische  Liter- 
atur,  1830,  (II,  108)  speaks  of  the  commentan' 
as  being  that  of  Servius.  (Cited  by  Ticknor, 
I,  451,  note.)     See  Appendix  B. 

119.1.  Xo.  XXIV. 

119.2.  Cited  by  Fiorentino  in  his  edition 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


478 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

of  the  Poesie  liriche  of  Tansillo  (Napoli,  1882), 
p.  xxxiv,  note  (3). 

119,3.     Capitoli,  ed.  S.  Volpicella,  Napoli, 
1870,  p.  158. 

120.1.  Nos.   CXXVII   and  CXXVIII   in 
the  Poesie  liriche,  pp.  64-5;    Herrera,  Obras 
de  Garcilasso,  pp.  20-1. 

120.2.  It  is  possible  that  it  was  at  Naples 
that  Garcilaso  knew   Juan  de  Valdes,  who 
mentions  him  in  his  Dialogo  de  las  lenguas 
(in  Mayans  y  Siscar,  Orlgenes  de  la  lengua 
espanola,    1737,   II,   69),  written  at  Naples 
between  1534  and  1537.    He  must  also  have 
known  the  poetess  Laura  Terracina,  an  in- 
timate friend  of  Tansillo.    Herrera  says  (p.  19) 
that  she  was  reported  to  have  apphed  as  an 
epitaph   for   Garcilaso   an   octave   from   the 
Orlando  furioso  (XVI,  72). 

121,1.     Miscelanea,  p.  132. 

122.1.  Such  as  Sonetos  VI  and  IX. 

122.2.  Braga,  Sa  de  Miranda,  p.  54. 
123,1.     Archivo   historico   nacional.      Leg. 

N°.  230,  N°.  31 17;    Sa  de  Miranda,  Poesias, 
p.  833.    See  also  pp.  79-80 an^e.  Sd,de  Miranda 
(Poesias,  p.  304)  speaks  of  her  calling  her  chil- 
dren her  "precioso  i  grande  arreo."   Lopez  de 
Haro  (II,  242)  mentions  only  her  son  Antonio. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND     WORKS 

479 

124.1.  Capasso,  Vicaria  vecchia  (in  Arch, 
stor.  nap.,  XV,  422-3  note)  cited  by  Croce,  pp. 
7-8;     Navarrete,  Vida,  p.  236;    Vandenesse, 
Journal,  p.  106. 

124.2.  Los   quatro   libros   del  Cortesano, 
compuestos  en  italiano  y  agora  nuevamente 
traduzidos  en  lengua  castellana.  Barcelona, 

1534,  f.  n  r°. 

124.3.  Ff.  III-IV. 

125.1.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  p.  25. 

125.2.  Capasso,  1.  c.  (cited  by  Croce,  l.-c.) 
126,1.     Gregorio  Rosso,  Historia  delle  cose 

di  Napoli,  p.  97. 

127,1.     See  Note  5,1. 

129.1.  Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  236-7. 

129.2.  Vandenesse,      Journal,      p.      109; 
Salmas  wrote  from  Palencia  on   September 
4th  that  they  were  expecting  him  (in  Bol. 
etc.,  XLV,  34). 

130,1.     Francisco  Sanchez  in  his  note  on 
the  passage,  says,  'Tor  Valclusa,  donde  nacio 
Madona  Laura,  dama  del  Petrarca,"    and  his 
statement  has  been  repeated  by  all  of  the  com- 
mentators and  biographers.     It  is  plainly  in- 
accurate;  Avignon  and  not  Vaucluse  was  the 
birthplace  of  Laura  and  it  was  at  Avignon 
that  her  ashes  rested.     Moratin  the  Younger 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

480 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

was  better  informed  on  the  subject,  for  writ- 
ing to  Jovellanos  from  Avignon  on  April  13, 
1787,  he  begins,   "Escribo  a  usted  desde  la 
tierra 

'Do  nacio  el  claro  fuego  de  Petrarca 
Y  donde  estan  del  fuego  las  cenizas.'  " 

In  the  same  letter  he  remarks  that  the  resting- 
place  of  Laura's  ashes  was  not  discovered 
until  1533  and  that  in  that  year  Francis  I 
visited  her  grave  in  the  Franciscan  monastery 
and  wrote  an  inscription  for  her  tomb.     All 
of  which  gives  particular  point  to  the  closing 
hnes  of  Garcilaso' s  Epistola,  written  in  1534. 
(Cf.  Obras  postumas,  1867,  II,  88-90.) 
130,2.     Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  237-8. 

132.1.  Id.  pp.  238-9. 

132.2.  Rosso,  p.  105. 

132.3.  Id.  p.  107. 

133.1.  Vandenesse,  Journal,  p.  iii.      On 
the   campaign,  see    Sandoval,   Sepulveda,  I- 
llescas,  and  Cerezeda. 

133.2.  Sandoval,    II,    173-4;     Sepulveda, 
I,  376. 

134,1.     Giovio,  f.  103;  Illescas,   (in  B.A.E. 
XXI,  456.)     Fiorentino  (in  Tansillo,  Poesie 
liriche,  p.  277)  quotes  a  manuscript  genealogy 

HI  SPANI C  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

481 

of  the  house  of  Carrafa  by  Angelo  di  Costanzo 
(Bibhoteca  Nazionale  di  Napoli,  XIV,  F,  39) 
which  tells  the  same  story. 

134,2.     Noticias  de  varios  sucesos  acaecidos 
desde  el  ano  1521  hasta  el  1549,  copiadas  de 
un   codice   escrito   de   mano   de   Florian   de 
Ocampo    (Ms.    in   the   BibUoteca   Nacional, 
Madrid,  N°.  9936)  f.  31  r°. 

135.1.  Vida,  p.  71. 

135.2.  Vandenesse,  Journal,  p.  113;  Cere- 
zeda,  III,  303. 

136,1.     In  Doc.  ineditos,  XIV,  427. 

137.1.  Vandenesse,    Journal,    pp.    113-5; 
Castaldo,  p.  48. 

137.2.  Castaldo,    pp.    48-9;     Rosso,    pp. 
1 1 2-8;   Sandoval,  II,  218. 

138.1.  Castaldo,  p.  55. 

138.2.  Epistolarum   famiharum   libri    VI, 
1552,  pp.  333-6. 

138.3.  Delle  lettere  volgari,  1.552,  I,  332. 
139,1.     Herrera  (p.  15)  refers  to  the  esteem 

in  which  he  was  held  by  the  Marquis  of  Vasto, 
and  in  his  comment  on  Soneto  XXI  remarks 
that  some  have  thought  that  the  poem  was 
addressed  to  the  Marquis  of  Vasto  rather 
than  to  the  Marquis  of  Villafranca,  Don  Pedro 
de  Toledo. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

482 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

139,2.     Epistolarum  libri  VII,   II,  IV   (in 
Opera,  III,  118). 

140.1.  Opera,  I,  xviii-xix. 

140.2.  Id.,  I,  xxix.     Reprinted  in  Opera, 
IV,  221-328. 

141,1.     Id.  IV,  225. 

143.1.  Sandoval,  II,  226. 

143.2.  Carlo  famoso,  ff.  217-8. 

146.1.  Miscelanea,  pp.  132-3. 

1 46.2.  For  the  chronology  of  the  Emperor's 
movements  during  the  next  few  months,  see 
Vandenesse,  Journal,  pp.  13 1-5.     For  Garci- 
laso's  part,  Navarrete,  Vida,  240-7.  He  must 
have  been  named  7naese  de  campo  before  the 
Court  left  Rome;    cf.  Bol.  etc.,  XLV,  136. 

148,1.     From    a    pliego    suelto,    probably 
printed  in  1537,  in  the  Library  of  the  Escorial, 
"Nuevas  maravillosas  de  su  Cesarea  Mages- 
tad    de    las    cosas    acontecidas    en    Ytalia, 
Francia  y  Saboya  .   .   .  embiadas  por   Juan 
de  Vega  a  Leonor  Osorio  su  muger  ...  desde 
los  19  de  Mayo  hasta  los  13  de  Junio  proximos 
passados."     f.  a  ij  r°.     "El  emperador  tiene 
aqui  [en  este  estado  de  Asti]  para  su  guarda 
los  V.  mil  Espaiioles  que  estavan  aca  y  los 
tres  mil   que   venieron   agora   Despana   que 
tiene  Garcialaso;   estos  estan  aposentados  en 
los  burgos." 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 


483 


150.1.  Croce,  pp.  13-4;  Gutierre  ed  Ce- 
tina,  in  his  Eplstola  to  Hurtado  de  Mendoza 
(Obras,  1895,  Epist.  XIV,  lines  40-2,  II,  107) 
refers  to  the  story  of  Garcilaso  as 

" .   .   .  de  piedad  y  envidia  llena, 
digo  de  in%ndiosos  de  su  gloria." 
but  this  is  probably  merely  a  reference  to  his 
untimely  death. 

150.2.  Lines  37-40. 

150.3.  Cf.  pp.  255-56. 
151,1.     Poesias,  p.  295. 

152,1.     Xavarrete.  Vida,  pp.  251-2. 
153,1.     Tratado,  II,  195-7- 

156.1.  Carlo  famoso,  f.  221. 

156.2.  Martin  Du  BeUay,  Memoires,  con- 
tenans  quelques  fragmens  des  Ogdoades  de 
Messire  GuiUaume  Du  BeUay,  La  RocheUe, 

1573'  P-  740. 

157.1.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  16. 

157.2.  There  are  numerous  references  to 
Garcilaso's  death  in  the  works  of  the  Spanish 
historians,  e.g.,  Giovio,  f.  115;  Mariana, 
VII,  325;    Sandoval,  II,  233. 

158,1.  The  date  is  a  matter  of  debate.  Of 
the  documents  printed  by  Xavarrete  (pp. 
258-9)  one  states  that  he  died  on  the  13th, 
another,  the  14th.    A  third,  says  that  his  heirs 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


484 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

received  his  salary   ''hasta   14  de  octubre", 
which  would  seem  to  imply  that  he  died  be- 
fore the   14th.     The  documents  printed  by 
Jose  Rogerio  Sanchez  (Boscdn  y  Garcilaso  de 
la  Vega,  pp.  xcvi-xcviii)  set  the  date  variously 
as  the  12th,  13th,  or  14th.     Herrera's  state- 
ment (p.   16)  that  he  died  on  the  21st  day 
after    his    injury    is    certainly    inaccurate. 
Navarrete,  however,  having  decided  that  the 
14th  was  the  date  of  his  death,  substracted 
from  it  twenty-one  days  and  so  placed  the 
day  of  his  injury  as  September  23rd. 

158,2.     I  have  considered  as  utterly  un- 
reUable  and  valueless  the  accounts  of  Gar- 
cilaso's  last  days  as  given  in  the  lives  of  San 
Francisco  de  Borja  of  Nieremberg  and  Cien- 
fuegos.     There   is  no   other  evidence  than 
theirs  of  the  supposed  intimacy  between  the 
poet  and  the  Marquis  of  Lombay. 

160.1.  Carlo  famoso,  ff.  221  v°-222  r°. 

160.2.  He    granted    stipends    of    60,000 
maravedls  a  year  to  Dona  Elena  and  Pedro 
de  Guzmdn  on  September  4,  1537  and  one  of 
80,000  mrs.  a  year  to  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  on 
June  21,  1539.     (Navarrete,  p.  259). 

160.3.  Misceldnea,  p.  185. 

160.4.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  p.  69. 

HISPANIC  NOTE  S 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

485 

i6o,s.  Id.,  p.  151.  The  "Inventario,  tasa- 
ci6n  y  particion"  of  her  estate  are  given  in 
Laurencin  (Documentos,  pp.  115-53). 

160,6.  Jose  Rogerio  Sanchez,  Juan  Bos- 
can,  p.  xcvi. 

161.1.  On  December  29,   1537;    cf.  Lau- 
rencin, Documentos,  p.  116. 

161.2.  Navarrete,  Vida,  pp.  260-2.    Dona 
Elena  in  her  first  will,  dated  August  18,  1549 
names    Garcilaso    as    her    heir    (Laurencin, 
Documentos,  p.  108.) 

161.3.  Ms.  in  the  Archivo  hist6rico  Na- 
cional,  cited  in  Note  4,2. 

162.1.  Cf.  pp.  271-73. 

162.2.  Pubhshed  by  R.  Menendez  Pidal 
in  Boletin  de  la  R.  Academia  Espanola,   I, 
47,  152.    Cf.  p.  217. 

162.3.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  p.  27. 

162.4.  Sandoval,  II,  583-6;   Zapata,  Mis- 
celanea,  p.  68;    Navarrete,  Vida,  p.  70.     (In 
the  document  there  presented  he  is  called  a 
son  of  Pedro  Laso.    Navarrete  calls  attention 
to  the  error  in  a  note.)    Figueroa  composed  a 
sonnet  on  his  death,  first  pubhshed  in  Ramirez 
Pagan,   Floresta  de  varia  poesia,   Valencia, 
1562,  f.   41   v°.     He  is  also  mentioned  by 
Ger6nimo  de  Urrea  in  his  translations  of  the 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

486 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Orlando  furioso,  Salamanca,  1578,  f.  213  v°. 
(ist.  ed.  Anvers,  1549). 

163.1.  Laurencin,     Documentos,     p.     23; 
Herrera,  p.  15. 

163.2.  Published  by  A.  de  Castro  in  his 
Poetas  liricos,  I,  x,  (note  i).    There  is  another 
copy  of  this  gloss  in  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale 
Centrale  in  Florence,  Mss.  Strozziani,  VII, 
354,  ff.  400  v°-405  r°. 

164.1.  Alonso  Getino,  Vida  y  procesos  del 
Maestro  Fr.  Luis  de  Leon,  Salamanca,  1907, 
pp.  268-75. 

164.2.  He  had  died  on  June  27,  1547,  when 
only  Garcilaso  and  Sancha  remained  as  heirs 
(cf.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  p^  88.) 

164.3.  Id.  p.  27. 

165.1.  Id.  p.  24. 

165.2.  Id.,  pp.  28-9. 

166.1.  Sepulveda  records  this  story  of  "a 
son  of   Garcilaso".     Although  he  does  not 
give  his  name,  I  have  ventured  to  identify 
him  as  Lorenzo  de  Guzman  because  of  the 
similarity  of  his  account  with  that  of  Tamayo 
de  Vargas  (f.  6.) 

166.2.  Herrera,  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  16. 

166.3.  Poesias,  p.  378. 

166.4.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  pp.  87-99. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS  487 

1 


167.1.  Id.  pp.  106-7. 

167.2.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  266. 

167.3.  Xavarrete,  Vida,  p.  262. 

168.1.  Laurencin,  Documentos,  pp.  32-3. 

168.2.  I  am  indebted  to  Sr.  Don  Juan 
Moraleda  y  Esteban  of  Toledo  for  informa- 
tion concerning  the  fate  of  Garcilaso's  remains. 

169,1.  El  Imparcial  (Madrid),  18  de 
Agosto  de  1900. 

171.1.  In  B.  A.  E.  XXXVI,  53. 

171.2.  Miscelanea,  pp.  392-3. 

172,1.  Id.,  pp.  297-8.  There  is  another 
anecdote  on  p.  393. 

173.1.  Obras  de  Garcilasso,  p.  14. 

173.2.  The  works  of  G.,  p.  151. 

173.3.  The  most  widely  kno\\Ti  is  that 
printed  in  Carderera  y  Solano,  Iconografia 
espanola  (Madrid,  1855-64,  2  vols.)  II,  X°. 
LXXIII.  It  is  reproduced  in  Laurencin,  Gar- 
cilaso  y  su  retrato. 

174.1.  Xavarrete,  Vida,  pp.  210-1. 

174.2.  Laurencin,  Garcilaso  y  su  retrato. 

174.3.  Ein  Bildnis  des  Dichters  Garcilaso 
de  la  Vega  ('in  Jahrbuch  des  k.  preussischen 
Kunstsammlungen,  Berlin,  XIV  (1893),  177- 
90.)  Another  article  in  Espana  Moderna,  t. 
310,  135-150. 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


488 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

y 

1 8 1, 1.  F.  XV  r°.  I  shall  describe  these  in 
detail  in  a  forthcoming  Bibhography. 

185,1.  Ed.  1610,  f.  158  r°;  ed.  Knapp,  p. 
432.  On  manuscripts,  cf.  Knapp's  note,  p. 
499. 

186.1.  Juan  Boscdn,  p.  479. 

186.2,  Cf.  H.   Keniston,   Las  Treinta  of 
Juan  Boscdn,  New  York,  191 1,  pp.  2-3. 

193,1.     The  second  of  Boscdn's  coplas  (ed. 
Knapp,  pp.  18-19)  is  an  artificial  tribute  to 
a  "Senora  Dona  Isabel",  who  may  be  Isabel 
Freire. 

196.1.  Cf.    Sonetti   e   canzoni    di    diversi 
antichi  autori  Toscani.    Firenze,  1527,  f.  5  r°. 
The  first  line  of  the  passage  quoted  does  not 
appear  in  the  two  earUest  editions  of  the 
Canzoni  di  Dante,  of  Milano,  1518  (f.  cii  r°) 
and  Venezia,  151 8  (reprint  of  1899,  p.  39.) 

196.2.  There  is  a  similar  mood  in  Sonnet 
VI. 

,206,1.     Prosa  XII,  106-7. 

210.1.  Cf.  his  Obras,  ed.  Knapp,  1877,  pp. 
479>  505-    For  other  versions  cf.  Morel-Fatio, 
L'Espagne  au  XVP  et  au  XVIP  siecle,  1878, 
PP-   583,  601-2  and  Wahlberg,    Juan  de  la 
Cueva  et  son  "Exemplar  Poetico",  1904,  p.  92. 

210.2.  Juan  Bosc^n,  p.  221,  note. 

HISPANIC   NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

489 

211,1.     Ed.  Knapp,  p.  65. 

212,1.     Ed.  Barcelona,  1543,  f.  LV  v°. 

215,1.     Cf.  p.  121. 

216.1.  Cf.  Obras  de  Boscan,  p.  522. 

216.2.  In  Romanische  Studien,  hrsg.  von 
E.  Boehmer,  IV,  203-4. 

217.1.  Opere  volgari,  1723,  p.  349.    There 
are  numerous  translations  of  this  sonnet  in 
Spain    during   the    Golden    Age.      Different 
versions  may  be  found  in  the  Cancionero 
general    de     1554    (ed.     Morel-Fatio),    No. 
CXXIX;  Fernando  de  Acuna,  Varias  poesias, 
1804,   p.   204;    Espinosa's  Flores  de  poetas 
ilustres,  Parte  I,  1896,  p.  185  (bv  Geronimo  de 
Mora) ;    Rev  de  Artieda,  Discursos,  epistolas 
y  epigramas  de  Artemidoro,  1605,  f.  103;  and 
the  manuscript  described  by  Gallardo,  En- 
sayo,  I,  1 06 1. 

217.2.  In    Boletin    de    la    R.    Academia 
Espanola,   I,  47,    152.     Sr.   Menendez  Pidal 
has  confirmed  me  in  my  belief  that  these  son- 
nets are  not  the  work  of  our  poet,  pointing 
out  that  the  elder  of  the  two  is  called  '*Gar- 
cilaso"  in  the  manuscript,  and  not  "Garcilaso 
de  la  Vega". 

217.3.  In  a  manu.script  of  the  Biblioteca 
Publica  of  Evora   -j^   f.    119   v°.    there  is 

AND    MONOGRAPH  S 

490 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

a  stanza  headed  ''Garcilaso"  which  begins: 
"Quando  en  suUtaria  selva  humbrosa." 
Most  of  the  Hnes  are  derived  from  the  poet's 
Eclogues  and  it  is  plain  that  the  anonymous 
author  was  merely  compiling  a  pastiche. 

220,1.     The  text  is  that  of  his  Opera  omnia, 
Venetiis,   1555,  ff.  269  r°-27i  r°.     Garcilaso 
must  have  known  the  elegy  in  manuscript, 
for  I  cannot  find  that  it  was  printed  before 
the  edition  of  the  complete  works. 

223,1.     The  text  is  that  of  the  edition  of 
Ovid,  London,  17 15,  where  the  elegy  will  be 
found  as  "incerti  authoris",  II,  270-82. 

227,1.     Found  in  his  Rime,  Vinegia,  1560, 
p.  192. 

228.1.  Also  in  Tasso,  1.  c. 

228.2.  De  re  publica,  VI,  Chap.  16. 
232,1.     In  his  Notes,  p.  329.     "El  Prete 

Jacopin"  defends  Garcilaso  rather  lamely  in 
his  Observacion  XVII. 
238,1.     Of.  p.  130. 

243.1.  Ed.  1574,  f.  113  v°. 

243.2.  Misceldnea,  p.  384. 

243.3.  Ed.  1580,  p.  410. 

244.1.  Rimas  varias  de  Camoens,  IV,  211. 

244.2.  Poesias,  p.  833.  Menendez  y  Pelayo 
also  accepts  the  theory;  cf.  Juan  Boscdn,  p.  58. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS           491 

257,1.  Cf.  Geronimo  de  Sosa,  Xoticia  de 
la  gran  casa  de  los  marqueses  de  Villafranca, 
Xapoles,  1676,  pp.  78-79. 

265,1.     F.  II  r°. 

267,1  Menendez  y  Pelayo  makes  the  sug- 
gestion in  his  Juan  Boscan,  p.  112,  note. 

268.1.  Cf.  his  Vida,  p.  165. 

268.2.  Juan  Boscdn,  p.  114. 

270,1.  Cf.  X.  Alonso  Cortes,  Don  Her- 
nando de  Acuna,  Valladolid,  (19 13),  p.  37. 
The  author  tries  to  explain  the  possibihty  of 
Fernando  de  Acuna's  having  already  WTitten 
verses  in  his  note  on  p.  39.  But  he  places  his 
first  amorous  poems  in  the  following  years 
(pp.  41-47)- 

271,1.     Varias  pocsias,  1804,  p.  214. 

272,1.     Ed.  Anvers,  1549,  f.  [254]     r°. 

273,1.  Ed.  Valencia,  1562,  ff.  [41]  v°-[42] 
r°.  For  another  mention  by  Gregorio  Her- 
nandez de  Yelasco,  cf.  infra,  p.  374. 

274,1.     Cf.  pp.  138-39- 

277,1.  The  chief  work  on  Spanish  versifica- 
tion are  Bello's  Ortologla  y  arte  metrica,  pub- 
hshed  in  his  Obras  completas,  Madrid,  1892- 
1905,  Vol.  IV,  and  E.  Benot's  Prosodia  cas- 
tellana  i  versificacion,  ^ladrid,  n.d.,  3  vols.  I 
have  not,  however,  attempted  to  follow  their 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

492 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

methods,  since  they  have  approached  the  sub- 
ject from  the  modern  Spanish  point  of  view 
rather  than  from  the  Italian  point  of  view. 
For  the  Itahan  usages,   general  statements 
may  be  found  in  D.  de  Pilla,  Sineresi,  dieresi 
ed  elisione.     2^  ed.     Firenze,   1889,  and  Fr. 
d'Ovidio,     Versificazione     itahana.     Milano, 
1910. 
277,2.     Cf.  his  Juan  Boscan,  pp.  161-213, 

279.1.  Exceptions  are  not  infrequent. 

279.2.  Cf.   his   Luis   Barahona   de    Soto, 
1903,  pp.  413-14- 

282,1.  "0  quantas  vezes  con  el  dolor 
fuerte"  (El.  I,  52)  is  a  unique  example  of  a 
line  with  stresses  on  the  fourth,  ninth  and 
tenth  syllables. 

283,1.  "Con  otras  que  se  me  han  mu^rto 
en  la  boca"  (Cane.  Ill,  71)  has  no  stress  be- 
tween the  second  and  seventh  syllables,  for 
the  relative  is  atonic. 

284,1.  In  "Mas  es  a  tiempo,  que  de  mi 
baxeza"  (Son.  XXVIII,  7),  the  que  stands  for 
porque. 

289,1.  Ed.  F.  Flamini  in  Giornale  storico, 
XX  (1892),  62. 

290,1.  "Como  quien  provo  mal  tan  im- 
portuno"  (Egl.  II,  600)  and 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

493 

"Lo  menos  de  lo  que  en  tu  ser  cupiere" 
(Egl.  Ill,  31) 

are  hardly  verses  of  arte  mayor,  but  they  are 
certainly  not  hendecasj^llables. 

293.1.  A-un  seems  to  show  diaeresis  in 
Son.  I,  1 1 ;  but  everyAA^here  else  dun  is  a  mon- 
osyUable.     Cf.  Son.  V,  4,  6;    Son.  XIV,  14, 
etc. 

293.2.  The  ae  in  Caesar  (Egl.  II,  1521)  is 
a  Latinism  for  e. 

297,1.  The  h  is  merely  a  method  of  express- 
ing the  diaeresis.  The  edition  of  Barcelona, 
1543  usually  writes:  traya,  caya,  ley  a,  veya, 
oya,  etc. 

302,1.  There  are  instances  of  diaeresis  in 
many  of  these  words  or  their  cognates  in 
Dante  and  Petrarch:  tra-ete  (Petr.,  Son.  XLI, 
13);  tra-endo  (Dante,  Purg.  X,  56);  cre-dre 
(Petr.,  Canz.  XXIX,  108);  so-dve  (Dante, 
Purg.  X,  56;  Petr.,  Son.  XV,  10);  rw-\na 
(Petr.,  Canz.  II,  97);  -po-eta  (Petr.,  Son. 
CXXXIII,  3);'sa.-e«a  (Petr.,  Son.  II,  8); 
ma-estro  (Petr.,  Trionfo  della  fama.  III,  iii); 
disle-dle  (Petr.  Son.  LXXVI,  6). 

303,1.  Viendos  is  a  dissyllable  in  Egl.  II, 
5.  It  is  probably  due  to  the  influence  of  other 
present  participles. 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

494 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

^ 

311,1.  Cf.  viendos  (Egl.  II,  5)  for  the  pro- 
nunciation. 

315,1.  Unstressed  y  is  always  semi-con- 
sonantal; initial,  as  in  yedra  (Egl.  I,  38); 
medial  as  in  rayava  (Egl.  I,  44);  or  final  as 
in  estoy  (Egl.  II,  357). 

317.1.  The  words  in  which  the  h  is  in- 
closed in  curves  are  also  found  in  the  text 
without  h. 

317.2.  Elado  (Latin  gelatum)  is  regularly 
found  in  the  text  without  h. 

318,1.  When  the  initial  diphthong  is  ie 
(Latin  e),  the  word  is  regularly  written  ye-, 
instead  of  hie-,  as  yedra,  yerro,  yerva. 

320,1.  In  Mayans  y  Siscar,  Origenes  de  la 
lengua  castellana,  1737,  II,  67-69. 

321,1.  Diego  de  Mendoza  regularly  aspir- 
ates h  from  Latin/  or  from  an  Arabic  aspirate. 
The  aspiration  of  Gutierre  de  Cetina  is  hardly 
evidence,  for  the  Andalusian  pronunciation 
is  proverbially  characterized  in  the  refrdn: 
"Quien  no  dice  jacha,  jorno,  jigo  y  jiguera,  no 
es  de  mi  tierra." 

322,1.  Cf.  Egl.  I,  414;  Egl.  II,  1215,  1272, 
1731;  Egl.  Ill,  217. 

323,1.  Cf.  also  Inferno,  II,  87;  III,  32; 
IV,  33;   V,  10,  115,  etc. 

HI  SPAN IC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

495 

323,2.     Boscan's  practise  is  by  no  means  as 
consistent  as  Menendez  y  Pelayo  believes  (cf . 
his  Juan  Boscan,  pp.  214-15).     Two  of  the 
examples  which  he  cites  are  contrary  evidence 
and  at  least  a  dozen  examples  of  elision  occur 
in  the  Leandro  y  Hero. 

325.1.  El.  I,  42,  as  usually  printed  is  an 
emendation  of  El  Brocense. 

325.2.  Cf.  aquell,  Egl.  Ill,  74,  ed.  of  Bar- 
celona, 1543. 

325.3.  Cited   by    Gallardo,    Ensayo,    IV, 
136. 

327.1.  This  reading  is  hardly  grammatical 
and  probably  should  be  "y  a  la  diosa". 

327.2.  In  other  similar  cases,  hoAvever,  as 
Egl.  II,  986,  synaloepha  takes  place. 

328.1.  It  is  improbable  that  yendo  should 
be  read  with  diaeresis,  y-endo. 

328.2.  Son.  XXXI,  9  and  Son.  XXXVIII, 
II  belong  to  the  class  with  stresses  on  the 
fourth  and  seventh  syllables.    Son.  XXXI,  2 
and  3  have  no  stress  between  the  fourth  and 
tenth  syllables.     Itali-dno  in  Son.  XXXIII, 
6  shows  diaeresis  of  the  group  i-d.    The  group 
que  aun  shows  synaloepha  in  Son.  XXXI,  13 
and  Son.  XXXII,  10.     There  is  synaloepha 
in  Sit  amo  Son.  XXXVII,  10)  but  hiatus  in 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

496 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

Mi  dlma  (Son.  XXXI,  i)  and  no  dsar  (Son. 
XXXVIII,  3)  (Cf.  nunm  dso  (Son.  XII,  7) 
and  m  dso  (Egl.  I,  237).     H  is  aspirate  in 
hazer,  hollar,  huyr,  etc. 

330.1.  Ed.  Knapp,  p.  113. 

330.2.  Cf.  his  Obras,  1895,  I,  xx. 
331,1.     Ed.  Knapp,  p.  446. 

336,1.  The  Api  of  Rucellai,  although  writ- 
ten before  1524,  was  not  pubhshed  until  1539. 

337,1.  Alamanni  in  his  address  to  Francis 
I  boasts  that  he  is  the  first  to  employ  blank 
verse,  which  has  never  been  sanctioned  by  the 
best  writers  of  Italy.  Prof.  Hauvette  in  his 
masterly  study  of  Alamanni,  (p.  217  ff.)  ex- 
plains this  disregard  of  Trissino  and  Rucellai 
by  referring  the  expression  merely  to  non- 
dramatic  compositions. 

338,1.  Stanza  19  (lines  253-66)  has  a 
septenary  in  place  of  a  hendecasyllable  in  the 
eleventh  line;  Stanza  20  (lines  267-81)  has 
fifteen  lines:   ABC  ABC:   cddEEFGfG. 

339,1,  Cf.  Verse  forms  of  the  Italian  ec- 
logue, in  Romanic  Review,  XI  (1920),  170-186. 

340,1.  It  is  also  that  of  Petrarch  (Canz. 
XIV)  used  by  Garcilaso  in  Cane.  III.  The 
stanza  which  begins  with  line  1829  is  a  variant 
of  the  same  form. 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

497 

341.1.  Garcilaso's  use  of  inner  rhymes  for 
the  account  of  the  journey  of  the  Duke  of 
Alba  to  Ratisbonne  may  have  been  suggested 
by  Francesco  Galeota's  "Cansone  dove  sono 
notate  tutte  le  cose  de  memoria  che  vide  per 
lo  viagio  di  Franza"  in  this  form    (in  Gior- 
nale  storico,  XX  (1892),  72-78.)    It  is  perhaps 
worthy  of  mention  that  Petrarch  uses  inner 
rhymes  in  his  Canz.  XI. 

341.2.  The    Tirsi  probably   derives  from 
the  Ninfe  fiesolane  of  Boccaccio. 

341.3.  Egloga  V,  ff.  8r°-9  v°. 

342,1.  Several  of  Sannazaro's  egloghe  are 
wholly  in  sdruccioli.  a  fact  which  may  account 
for  their  presence  here.  I  am  not  unaware  of 
the  fact  that  certain  of  the  Sevillan  theorists, 
such  as  Argote  de  Mohna,  Herrera  and  Juan 
de  la  Cueva,  regarded  words  like  noticia  as 
esdrujulos  and  that  Cairasco  de  Figueroa  also 
counted  them  as  such  in  compositions  wholly 
in  this  rhyme.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  to  Garcilaso  they  were  llanos,  for  he  at 
no  time  uses  them  consistently  together  but 
always  with  other  assuredly  llanos  verses. 

345,1.  Examples  are  Egl.  II,  806-8;  1180- 
12;    1275-76,  etc. 

349,1.    Ff  is  regular  in   affeto,   defender, 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

498 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

offender,  and  officio;  usual  in  differente  (two 
exceptions)  and  offrecer  (three  exceptions). 
In  suffrir  the  form  varies.  Dificil  (with  one 
exception)  has  single/.  Juan  de  Valdes  (Dia- 
logo,  pp.  69-70)  favors  ff. 

352,1.  Luengo,  sendos  and  tamano  (for  tan 
grande)  are  no  longer  in  current  usage. 

359,1.  Boscdn  uses  the  form  veres  in  rhyme 
with  Verones  (ed.  Knapp,  p.  445)  and  Diego 
de  Mendoza  has  quereis,  hallareis  and  pre- 
tendeis  in  rhyme  with  pies  and  enves.  (ed. 
Knapp,  p.  383). 

365,1.  Senhora  Micaehs  de  Vasconcellos 
in  her  note  on  Sd  de  Miranda's  Carta  to 
Antonio  Pereira  (Poesias,  p.  802)  is  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  reference  to  Boscan  and 
Garcilaso,  found  only  in  the  printed  editions, 
is  prior  to  Garcilaso's  death.  It  should  be 
noted  however,  that  the  phrase  "Honra  d'Es- 
panha  que  sao"  is  found  only  in  the  first  edi- 
tion (1595)  and  that  in  the  edition  of  1614 
the  reading  is  "Que  honrarao  a  sua  nagao". 
Moreover  there  is  no  necessity  for  interpret- 
ing the  phrase  in  the  sense  that  the  poets  were 
still  ahve;  they  remained  an  "honor  to  their 
nation"  after  their  death.  It  is  interesting 
that  both  in  this  passage  (variants,  p.  242) 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS  499 


and  in  Egl.  V,  65,  Sa  de  Miranda  imitates  the 
phrase  of  Garcilaso,  "Me  voy  mi  passo  a 
passo,"  (El  II,  23). 

368.1.  Obras,  II,  107;  it  was  written  be- 
fore the  death  of  Boscdn. 

368.2.  Al  lector:  f.  [b  viiij]  r°.  "Y  no 
fuera  mucha  gloria  la  de  nuestra  lengua  y  su 
poesia  en  imitar  el  verso  italiano,  si  no  me- 
jorara  tanto  en  este  genero  Garcilasso  de  la 
Vega,  luz  muy  esclarescida  de  nuestra  nacion; 
que  ya  no  se  contentan  sus  obras  con  ganar 
la  victoria  y  el  despojo  de  la  Toscana,  sino 
con  lo  mejor  de  lo  Latino  traen  la  competen- 
cia  y  no  menos  con  lo  muy  precioso  de  Vir- 
giho  y  Horacio  se  enrriquescen."  Also  in 
Fernan  Perez  de  Ohva.  Obras.  Cordova,  1586, 
f.  II  r°. 

369,1.  Orlando  furioso,  traduzido  en  ro- 
mance castellano  por  Jeronymo  de  Urrea. 
Anvers,  Martin  Nucio,  1549,  f.  230  r°. 

370.1.  I  have  used  the  reprint  in  Schot- 
tus,  Hispaniaeillustratae.  Francofurti,  1603- 
II,  820. 

370.2.  Arcadia,  traduzida  nuevamente  en 
nuestra  Castellana  lengua  Hespanola,  en 
prosa  y  metro  como  ella  estava  en  su  primera 
lengua  Toscana.      (Toledo,    Juan  de  Ayala, 


AND  MONOGRAPHS 


500 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

1547.)  ff.  [fs]  r°-[f6]  v°.    Diego  de  Salazar  is 
the  author  of  a  Tratado  de  re  militari.    Alcald, 
1536,  and  translator  of  Appian's  Historia  de 
todas  las  guerras  civiles.  Alcald,  1536  and  of 
the  verses  in  Boccaccio's  Trece  questiones 
muy  graciosas  sacadas  del  Philoculo.    Toledo, 

1546.  A  reference  in  the  Dedication  of  the 
Arcadia  by  Blasco  de  Garay  to  Gonzalo  Perez 
shows  that  he  was  dead  at  the  time  of  pub- 
lication in  1547. 

The  Secunda  parte  del  Cancionero  general 
of  1552  contains  (ff.  158  r°-  164  r°)  a  Carta  in 
tercets  by  Geronimo  de  Urrea  which  is  dated 

1547.  (Of.  F.  Wolf,  Ueber  die  Liederbticher 
der  Spanier.  Beilage  IV  inTicknor,  Geschichte, 
etc.  II,  538)- 

371.1.  Morales,  traduzidos  de  lengua  grie- 
ga  en  castellana  [por  Diego  Gracian].  AlcaM, 
Juan  de  Brocar,  1548,  f.  CCI  v°.  and  f.  bb 
iijv°. 

371.2.  F.[M]t\ 

371.3.  De   la   Ulyxea  .  .  .  XIII  libros, 
traduzidos  de  Griego  en  Romance  castellano 
por  Gonzalo  Perez.     Anvers,    Juan   Stelsio, 
1550. 

371.4.  Orlando  furioso,  nuevamente  tra- 
duzido  de  bervo  ad  berbum  del  vulgar  Tos- 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

501 

cano  en  el  nuestro  castellano  por  Hernando 
Alcoger.   Toledo,   Juan  Ferrer,  1550.    There 
are  three  sonnets  among  the   preliminaries. 
371,5.     Alcala,  Joan  de  Brocar,  1550.   Juan 
Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  was  one  of  the  leading 
figures  of  the  new  school.     There  is  an  in- 
teresting reference  to  his  leadership  in  the 
Historia  de  los  amores  de  Clareo  y  Florisea 
(Venecia,  YuUto,  1552)  of  Alfonso  Niinez  de 
Reinoso,  in  which  the  author  speaks  of  the 
criticism  which  Mendoza  made  of  his  hendec- 
asyllables,    as   partaking   too   much   of   the 
character  of  verses  of  arte  mayor.    NMez  de 
Reinoso's  work  contains  sonnets  and  tercets 
which  reveal  precisely  the  fault  which  he  men- 
tions.   Cf.  Gallardo,  Ensayo,  III,  984-92. 

372.1.  This  is  an  extension  of  the  common 
octave  used  by  Frangois  Villon  and  the  other 
writers  of  the  fifteenth  and  early  sixteenth 
centuries  in  France. 

372.2.  Cf.  Gallardo,  Ensayo,  IV,  921-26. 
The  editions  of   1559  and   1560  are  intitled 
Recopilacion  de  sonetos  y  villancicos  and  con- 
tain a  number  of  additional  sonnets. 

373,1.     Toledo,    Juan  Ferrer,    1552.     The 
work  contains  sonnets  by  Arias  Montano  and 
Juan  Hurtado  de  Mendoza. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

502 


GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 


373,2.  Los  triumphos,  ahora  nuevamente 
traduzidos  en  lengua  castellana.  Medina  del 
Campo,  1554. 

373,3-  Valladolid,  S.  Martinez,  1554.  It 
also  contains  a  sonnet  by  Montemayor,  an 
anonymous  sonnet,  and  an  anonymous  oc- 
tave. 

373.4.  I  have  not  seen  the  edition  of  An- 
vers,  Juan  Steelsio,  1554,  described  by  Salva 
(No.  295),  but  the  edition  of  his  Cancionero 
of  AlcaM,  1563,  has  more  than  half  of  the 
compositions  in  the  Italian  measures,  includ- 
ing four  Eclogues  which  reproduce  all  of  the 
forms  used  by  Garcilaso,  including  blank 
verse,  octaves,  tercets,  canzone-stanzas,  and 
the  lira.     (ff.  105  r°-i54  v°.) 

373.5.  Published  by  Morel-Fatio  in  his 
L'Espagne  au  XVI^  et  au  XVIP  siecle,  1878, 
pp.  501-92. 

373.6.  F.  [Mr°. 

374.1.  F.  [254]  r°. 

374.2.  F.  230  r°. 

374.3.  In  Sedano,  Farnaso  espanol,  V,  165, 

375.1.  Valencia,  1565,  f.  204  r°  and  v°. 
Also  in  Sedano,  Parnaso  espanol,  VIII,  330- 

31- 

375.2.  In  his  article  on  the  Cancionero  in 


HISPANIC  NOTES 


LIFE    AND    WORKS 


503 


Sitzungsberichte  der  k.    Akad.   der  Wissen- 
schaften.    Phil.-Hist.  Classe,  X  (1853),  195. 

376.1.  Wolf  (op.  cit.,  p.  189)  noted  that 
No.  CLIII  is  translated  from  Petrarch  (Son. 
CII)  .  .  J.  P.  W.  Crawford  (in  Romanic  Re- 
view, VII,  332-37)  has  noted  that  the  follow- 
ing are  also  from  his  sonnets:  Xo.  CXXXIII, 
Son.  CLXXX;  Xo.  CXXXIV,  Son.  L;  Xo. 
CXXXVIII,  Son.  LXIX;  Xo.  CXLVI,  Son. 
CLXXXVIII;  Xo.  CXLVIII,  Son.  CCXIV; 
Xo.  CXLIX,  Son.  CCCVI;  Xo.  CLV,  Son. 
CLXXVIII;  Xo.  CLVI,  Son.  CCXX;  Xo. 
CLXVII,  Son.  XXXIII;  Xo.  CXXIX  is  a 
translation  of  Sannazzaro's  Son.  XXIII,  Xo. 
CXXXI  of  his  Son.  LXXII,  and  Xo.  CXL 
of  his  Canz.  XII.  Xos.  CLX,  CLXIII,  and 
CLXXXI  are  derived  from  Ausias  March. 
At  least  three  others  are  derived  from  Pet^ 
rarch,  which  have  not  been  mentioned;  Xo. 
CXXVIII  is  Son.  CCXXYI;  Xo.  CXXXIX 
is  Son.  XLIX  and  Xo.  CLXIX  imitates  his 
Trionfo  deUa  morte,  II,  i  ff. 

376.2.  On  Coloma,  see  Morel-Fatio,  op. 
cit.,  p.  496. 

377,1.  Aside  from  the  use  of  inner  rhyme 
by  Sa  de  Miranda  and  Coloma,  the  earliest 
examples  of  which  I  know  are  the  sonnet  with 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


504 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

inner  rhymes  of  Gutierre  de  Cetina  (Obras, 
I,  2II-I2,  No.  CCXLIV)  and  the  series  in 
the  Eglogas  pastoriles  of  Pedro  de  Padilla 
(Sevilla,  1582,  ff.  39  r°-  40  v°).  They  are  also 
used  by  Camoens,    (Rimas  varias,    1685-89, 
V,  209-11)  in  his  Egloga  11.    Other  examples 
of  their  use  may  be  found  cited  by  Rodriguez 
Marin  in  his  Luis  Barahona  de  Soto,  1903, 

PP-  330-33- 

378,1.  Son.  XXXIII  of  Knapp's  edition  is 
the  work  of  Cetina  and  written  years  after  the 
event  celebrated  (1539).  Cf.  Cetina,  Obras, 
I,  100,  Son.  CXII. 

379,1.     Cf.  op.  cit.,  p.  600. 

380.1.  Varias   poeslas,    1804,   pp.    209-12 
and  219-22.     Cetina  also  uses  a  lira,  which 
he  intitles  an  Oda  (Obras,  I,  293-95).    Other 
early  examples  are  in  Diego  Ramirez  Pagan, 
Floresta  de  varia  poesia,  Valencia,   1562,  f. 
(ss)    r°;     Lomas    Cantoral,    Obras,    Madrid, 
1578,  in  Egl.  II  (ff.  120  r°-i3i  r°);  and  Pedro 
de  Padilla,  Thesoro  de  varias  poesias,  Madrid, 
1580,  ff.  22  r°,  47  r°,  115  r°  etc. 

380.2.  Cf.  the  Introduccion  to  his  Obras, 

I,  XXV. 

381,1.     Another  early  example  of  a  madri- 
gal, intitled  a  Mote,  by  Geronimo  de  Urrea 

HI  SPAN  I C  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

505 

is  cited  by  Gallardo,  Ensayo,  I,  1003.  Ceti- 
na's  Son.  XXXVIII  is  -written  in  verses  of 
arte  mayor.  Hazanas  y  la  Rua,  (in  his  intro- 
duction, I,  Ixxjj)  refers  to  the  sonnets  of  Juan 
de  Yillalpando  in  the  same  metre  and  also 
to  the  sonnet  in  alexandrines  by  Pedro  Es- 
pinosa  in  the  Segunda  parte  de  Las  flores  de 
poetas  ilustres  de  Espana,  p.  245,  No.  170. 

381,2.  Ed.  Knapp,  pp.  48-56.  Eugenio 
de  Salazar  addressed  one  of  his  Cartas  to 
Agustin  Guedeja;  cf.  Cartas,  Madrid,  1866, 
pp.  81-90. 

383,1.  Obras,  Madrid,  1792,  pp.  243-51. 
Luis  de  Haro  is  also  mentioned  by  Urrea  (1.  c.) 
and  by  Boscan  (ed.  Knapp,  p.  446)  and  several 
of  his  compositions  are  found  in  the  Can- 
cionero  general  de  1554,  but  curiously  enough 
none  of  them  is  in  the  Italian  measure. 

385,1.     Ed.  Granada,  1599. 

386,1.     P.  13. 

389.1.  Cf.  Gallardo,  Ensayo,  IV,  449-50. 

389.2.  Cf.  id.  IV,  450. 
390,1.     F.  [Afi]  v°. 

393.1.  Ensayo,  III,  332. 

393.2.  Notes,  p.  109. 

394,1.     Obras,  1578,  f.  218  v°. 
395,1.     Obras  de  Garcilasso,  f.  2  r°. 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

506 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

395,2.     Notes,  p.  80. 
396,1.     Id.  p.  108. 

397.1.  In  his  Contestacion  to  the  Obser- 
vaciones  of  "El  Prete  Jacopin",  p.  69. 

397.2.  Obras,  1578,  f.  183  v°. 

397.3.  Galatea,   Alcala,    1585    (reprint  of 

1917),  f-  335  r°-v°. 

397.4.  Diversas  rimas,  1591,  f.  45  r°. 

397.5.  Primera  y  segunda  parte    de    Las 
cosas  notables  de  Espana,  1595,  f.  232  y°. 

398.1.  Vol.  II,  346;  VII,  53,  56,  165.    One 
of  his  canciones  is  in  the  Poetas  liricos  de  los 
siglos  XVI  y  XVII,  II,  509-10. 

398.2.  Bibliotheca  nova,  I,  261. 

398.3.  Cf.    Gallardo,    Ensayo,    Vol.    II, 
Apendice,  s.  v. 

398.4.  Fernando  de  Herrera,  Controversia 
sobre  sus  Anotaciones  a  las  Obras  de  Gar- 
cilaso  de  la  Vega.     Sevilla,  1870.     pp.  vii-xi. 

400.1.  P.  367. 

400.2.  Novelas  exemplares,  Madrid,  1613 
(reprint  of  19 17),  f.  113  r°. 

401,1.     The  hst  of  verses  written  in  honor 
of  Garcilaso  is  also  so  long  that  it  is  impractic- 
able to  attempt  to  record  them  here.     Some 
I  have  referred  to  in  the  following  chapter; 
of  the  others,  I  shall  mention  only  those  which 

HISPANIC  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS     i     507 


were  printed  by  Sanchez  and  Herrera  in  their 
respective  editions  of  his  works. 

403.1.  Juan  Boscan,  pp.  393-94. 

403.2.  F.  223  v°. 
404,1.     F.  258v°. 

405.1.  Ff.  248  r°  and  249  r°.  Cordova's 
work  is  one  of  the  missiles  in  La  derrota  de 
los  pedantes,  p.  96. 

405.2.  Alcald,  1588,  f.  [^\%]  r°. 

406,1.  I  have  used  the  edition  of  Valencia, 
1794,  p.  xix. 

407,1.  Cited  b}^  Gallardo,  Ensayo,  I,  214. 
Lope  de  Vega  refers  to  Andosilla's  work  in 
the  Laurel  de  Apolo,  (Obras,  1776-79, 1, 150-1). 
Cf.  also  Alvarez  y  Baena,  Hijos  de  Madrid, 
1789-90,  III,  199-203. 

409,1.  The  others  are :  Francisco  deFigue- 
roa.  Captain  Francisco  de  Aldana,  and  Fer- 
nando de  Herrera. 

410.1.  Obras,  1791,  I,  447. 

410.2.  Id.,  I,  312. 

412,1.     Obras,  1654,  ff.  48  v°-49  r°. 

413.1.  A  hst  will  be  given  in  the  Biblio- 
graphy. 

413.2.  I  have  used  the  second  edition, 
Madrid,  1789,  I,  125. 

413.3.  Madrid,  1797,  p.  53. 


AND   MONOGRAPHS 


508 

GARCILASO  DE  LA  VEGA 

414.1.  Madrid,  1789,  pp.  81,  89. 

414.2.  Obras  poeticas,  Madrid,  1854,  p.  1 14. 

415.1.  I,  xxxvi-xxxvii. 

415.2.  Obras  completas,  1845,  I,  154,  166. 

415.3.  Ensayos  literarios  y  criticos,  1844, 
n,  43-45- 

421.1.  I  have  not  seen  the  original  edition, 
but  the  reference  is  to  be  found  in  the  Italian 
translation   (Fiorenza,    1552,  p.  242)   and  in 
later  reprints  of  the  Latin,  such  as  that  of 
Basileae,  n.d.,  p.  303. 

421.2.  Vinegia,    1552,    f.    19    r°.      Signor 
Croce    (in  his  study,   Intorno   al  soggiorno, 
etc.  p.  16)  also  cites  its  appearance  in  a  later 
edition,     Tre    hbri     di     Pistolotti     amorosi. 
Venezia,  1558,  f.  40. 

422.1.  Pp.  332-35- 

422.2.  I  quote  from  the  edition  of  Venetia, 
1635,  Pt.  I,  p.  226. 

423.1.  Modena,  1706,  I,  211. 

423.2.  Cf.   his   Saggio  storico-apologetico 
della  letteratura  spagnuola.  Genova,  1778-81, 
III,  1 14-16. 

424.1.  Poemas  lusitanos.     2a  ed.  Lisboa, 
1771,  II,  II,  105. 

424.2.  0  lyma.     Lisboa,  1596,  ff.  130  v° 
and  152  T°. 

HI  SPANI C  NOTES 

LIFE    AND    WORKS 

509 

425.1.  Rimas  varias,  II,  201,  Son.  VII. 

425.2.  Id.,  Ill,  133;  V,  174  ff. 

426.1.  P.  315. 

426.2.  I  have   not  seen  the  work.     Cf. 
Fitzmaurice-Kelly,  Historia  de  ia  Hteratura 
espanola.  Madrid,  192 1,  p.  145. 

427.1.  Les  oeuvres  poetiques,  Lyon,  1603, 

p.  333. 

427.2.  P.  395. 

427.3.  P.  114. 

430,1.  On  these  early  mentions,  cf.  J.  G. 
Underhill,  Spanish  hterature  in  the  England 
of  the  Tudors.  New  York,  1899,  pp.  240-42, 
270-73. 

431,1.  Some  account  of  the  Uves  and  writ- 
ings of  Lope  Felix  de  Vega  Carpio  and  Guillen 
de  Castro.    London,  181 7,  I,  2-3,  25-26. 

433,1.  It  is  the  edition  of  Madrid,  Repu- 
lles,  n.d.  now  in  the  Ticknor  Collection  in  the 
Boston  Public  Library. 

AND   MONOGRAPHS 

7  DAY  USE 

TO  DESK  FRQW^  '"'<'T    '»ORP 


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